Shadow Child
by Forever Kissing
Summary: Link finds himself in a completely wrong situtation, and at the same time Gannondorf has returned to Hyrule. Now the Hero of Time is trapped, unable to fight, and alone. Now only Dark Link can save Link, the Sages, and Hyrule.  Link/Dark  Mpreg  rewrite
1. The Beginning

_Shadow Child, rewritten. I have exclusive rights to do so, as I am the same author who originally wrote it. I have created a new account because I want to start anew. Those stories were from my teenage years, and I am a much better writer now. I will remove Shadow Child from the other account when this one is complete. Please, if you read the original, read this one to give me your feedback. Since most of the story is already made, I'm just making it better, I will probably update fairly quickly. Give it time. It will be worth it._

…_._

The wind was harsh and the shutters on the windows at Lon Lon Ranch flapped angrily in rain. It was late, nearing eleven at night, but the lights were still bright and no one was asleep. The horses were tucked into their stables, the cuckoos in their nests, but the people who took care of them were far away from thinking about sleep.

Lightning illuminated the room for a few seconds at a time. The storm was harsh and cold. Malon made her way up the stairs to the second floor of her home with a blanket and a pair of freshly cleaned men's clothing in her arms. Her whole figure was dark, but when the lightning struck it reflected off of her sapphire eyes and her ruby hair. As she made her way down the hall she sighed, knowing something awful was happening. Her feet stopped on the cold floor in front of the spare bedroom. She knocked a few times.

"Fairy boy? Are you in there?" she waited for a response until she thought for sure he wasn't, but then she heard a small cry. She frowned and opened the door slowly.

The window was cracked open and the freezing night air was streaming in mixed with drops of rain. The room was darker than any other room in the house and Malon couldn't see anything at all. She started looking for a light, a candle, anything when the room lit up with another flash of lightning. Only a few seconds later the thunder boomed after it, but in the moment that the room was visible she saw Link sitting on the corner of the bed in tears.

She fumbled around until she finally found a lantern and with her new source of light she crossed the room to Link. He was dripping wet, visibly shaking, and looked like he had cried until he couldn't any longer, and just had stray tears on his face. She set the blanket down on the bed and then helped him to his feet. "Link, I brought you some dry clothes." She whispered. She was scared to see him like this.

It had been just over a month since Hyrule had been saved from Gannondorf. The whole world was sunny again and full of life. Birds were singing, children could play in the streets again, and the castle market was rebuilt. Everyone was happy again.

Everyone but Link. Link had to give up a lot when he defeated the evil king. Navi had to return to the great Deku tree, and he would never see her again. He had to give up his magic and his weapons, and replace the master sword. Zelda then gave him the option of what he wanted to do next. He could go back in time and live life in a world free of all of the pain he went through, or he could continue to live as he was now. Link didn't want to go back. He wanted to remember, so he could share the story with his own children one day. The whole world would be grateful to him.

Most of the people of Hyrule wouldn't know the Hero of Time if he was standing right in front of them. No one knew what he really looked like, and without his hero's attire, he was just a normal Hylian. Link liked it that way, because it gave him much less to explain. He had never wanted the life of a celebrity.

"Malon…" Link rasped in a voice that broke the poor rancher's heart. He had sobbed himself hoarse. She looked into his sky blue eyes and nodded. She was paying attention to him. "What do you…" He couldn't say anything without crying it seemed. He fought back a sob. "What do you think I did to deserve this?" he choked out eventually. He took the clothes from her and went behind an old-fashioned screen to change clothes.

Malon started to change the blankets where he was sitting, to get the damp one off. "Link, you never did anything wrong. This is a blessing, from the Goddess. They obviously are so proud of you, they want—!" she gasped and stopped midsentence as another boom of thunder cracked so loudly she thought she felt to floor move.

"This is _not_ a blessing. It's a curse." Link muttered, pulling on the sleeping clothes she brought for him. Link could always rely on Malon. She was always there at the ranch with open arms, willing to help him through his challenges. He was able to trust her to keep him safe, healthy, and sane.

Malon looked over towards the screen with a sad glance. She was not in love with him. She had once thought about running away with the hero, but her place was on the ranch, and he was destined to travel. Her father had arranged for her to marry a local farmer's son, and as it turned out he wasn't a bad guy. She wasn't upset. Link didn't seem to want a more romantic relationship from her either, so both of them just accepted that they were friends and nothing more.

She walked to the window and closed it, twisting a wooden bolt to lock it securely. "You'll kill yourself if you stay so cold."

"That wouldn't be a bad solution."

She looked his way once again as he came out from behind the curtain. Had he opened the window on purpose, then?

"I don't think I can do this Mal," He croaked as he collapsed onto the bed.

Malon silently nodded, coming to sit near him and try to comfort him. Only a few weeks after his battle with Gannondorf, Link came down with some sort of crazy disease. He was sick constantly and always light headed. He couldn't function properly. So he came to the ranch. He asked for Malon's help. She had no idea what to do, and so she told Link to rest, and in the morning she would go with him to see Zelda. Zelda had proved more than once that her magic could heal people, and help them find out what was ailing them.

Link still didn't think it had been worth it. He would have rather died fighting Gannon than heard what Zelda had to say. She only made it worse.

"Why me?" He whispered, fighting his own tears once again. He could fight monsters, he could fight ghosts… but his own tears? He stood no chance.

Malon stroked his hair softly. "I told you Link. This is a blessing from the goddesses."

"How could this have even happened?" He choked on his tears, now having successfully won their fight. "I never… I mean I didn't have time to do… anything! I just never did…"

"That must be what makes it such a blessing."

"Stop saying that it's a blessing."

"Link," Malon started, but he shot up into a sitting position and through angry tears shouted at his best friend.

"I'm fucking _pregnant_, Malon. Pregnant! How can that be anything but a curse!" He tugged on his sandy hair and sobbed into his knees. Malon didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry Link. We all have destinies, and maybe yours is…"

"Mine was to save Hyrule! I _did_ what I was supposed to! I saved the damn world! My destiny is _not_ to spend my whole life being ridiculed and insulted because I was the first FREAK SHOW to exist! If the goddesses are in on this, they're playing a FREAKING GAME WITH ME!"

Malon was almost afraid he was going to do something irrational, until he fell back against the pillow. "This is a great gift." She said. "Just think of all the things you can teach it, show it? You'll be a parent, and you'll be happy."

"I won't be happy."

Malon looked away and lightly sighed. "I'll always be here for you. I'll never call you a freak. And neither will Ingo or my Dad. Or Zelda. Isn't that all the support you need, for now?"

Link didn't reply, just grunted a response. Malon wasn't sure what that meant, but she walked out of the room in silence.

Link turned over in his bed. Something had to cause this. He had _not_ had sex with anyone and especially not a man. And he was not a freak either. Something had cursed him. It had to have.

….

_Link walked into the room slowly, letting the cool air wash over him. The floor was flooded with about two inches of water, and there was a thick fog in the air that made it hard to see. It was almost like the room never ended. At first he thought the room was empty, save for the lonely tree in the center, until Navi gasped and pointed to the door. It was locked! The hero turned quickly back towards the tree, his blue tunic twirling a little as he did. He drew his sword and made his way towards the center. "Show yourself!" He shouted in anger. He was even a little scared, admittedly, because he really couldn't tell if this room would ever end. It didn't even look like it had a ceiling… and it was so cold._

_Like a lion, suddenly his enemy dashed out and swung his sword at Link. The hero gasped, taking in the sight of his new foe. It was himself! He ducked and tried to attack him, but the clone was matching all of his attacks. _

_This enemy was almost identical to Link. He was just as tall and looked very similar. Link felt a little shorter than him, and he felt that the monster was a little stronger looking, but that must have been Gannondorf's doing. His hair was jet black and his eyes were the blazing color of rubies in the sunlight. He was dressed in all back and grey attire, and he was so strong that Link was at a loss. _

_Finally after what seemed like hours of fighting Link pinned his counterpart against the tree. Just as he was about to go in for the kill, the demon leaned forward. "This isn't over yet." He began. "You'll see. Someday, someday soon you'll come back to me, to fight me again. You'll search for me, seek me out like a mother looks for her children on a rainy night. And then I will finally defeat you."_

Link sprang up in his bed, gasping for air. That dream, that _flashback_ to the water temple—to Dark Link. That had to be the answer. Obviously what he said was a curse. That was why he was like this. Link smiled to himself, proud to have remembered that conversation. In the morning he would find Dark Link. He would make him undo whatever it was he had done, and he would then kill him once and for all.

….

Malon bit her lip as Link began to load some supplies onto Epona the next morning. "I don't think you should do this". She really didn't either. She herself had saddled Epona, but when she looked at her friend she was just worried. He looked pale still, and his ailments hadn't gone away just because they were identified as morning sickness. She shook her head and reached out to touch his shoulder. He looked over at her with a big grin.

A smile? She almost forgot what she was going to say it surprised her so much. Since Zelda had said the word baby, he hadn't even had a moment where he didn't look miserable, let alone smile. She heaved a loud sigh and said "this is bad, Link. You're going to hurt yourself."

Link shrugged. "So what if I do? I am the _Hero of Time_ after all."

Malon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well you're about to be the _Mother_ of time." She muttered.

Link raised an eyebrow. "What was that, oh dear friend that I hope not to kill in the near future?"

She shook her head. "If you hurt yourself, at this point, it can hurt you really bad! You have to understand that! Everything is different now, you have to think about your…"

"My curse?"

"Your _baby_."

"Malon, I don't even want to consider it like that. What if it's not really a baby? What if it's some weird disease, or what if some kind of crazy parasite worked its way in there? Just because there's something _living_ in there doesn't mean that it's a baby." He leaned against the horse. "I'm way to young to have a baby, even if I was married and it was a _woman_ doing the actual HAVING part. I mean, think about it. What if Hyrule is in danger again? What if Gannon comes back?"

"And what if he doesn't and you have a beautiful opportunity to live happily ever after?" Malon almost shouted back at him.

"You think that having some kind of crazy curse/blessing/illegitimate child is happily ever after?" Link shook his head. "It's not at all."

"Link, I'm just worried about you! What if that demon, Dark Link, doesn't have any idea what your talking about? Maybe he had nothing to do with it! What if he kills you?"

"He _does_ have something to do with it, I'm sure of it." Link let out a grunt as he pulled himself on Epona. "As for dying? At this point, like I told you before, that doesn't sound like a bad idea."

Malon watched as he left the ranch, his clothes and hair blowing in the light breeze. The air was still cold, but at least she got him to wear a jacket. She looked away, back towards the ranch, and sighed. It was a mess from the storm. "Goddesses watch over him." She whispered into the wind.


	2. A Father In The Darkness

_I hope from here on out you'll find the chapters much more interesting than in the original. I'm very thankful to any readers, and if you could give me a heads up it'd be nice. I would _especially_ like to hear the opinion of people who read this in the past. I want to hear if you like it better, or if the short and sweet was more your cup of tea. Thank you for reading!_

….

As Link entered the water temple he felt a chill run through his entire body. Seeking warmth, he wrapped his arms around his chest. This was very cold. For a few seconds he pondered if the blue tunic had also kept him warm when he had last ventured into this abandoned domain. He felt a spark of warmth and moved his hands down towards his firm abdomen.

Princess Zelda told him that she wasn't sure if the baby would survive the pregnancy, let alone after it. She said that men just weren't made to have babies. He had whole heartedly agreed. Then she cast a spell on him so that he could feel the baby. It amplified his body heat there, on his tight stomach, so that if he was ever worried about the baby he could simply reach down and feel that it was alive.

Malon thought it was a great idea. Link thought it was stupid, and after it was done it made him feel nauseas. He felt like the added warmth just made him want to throw up. But the nausea wore off, like it always seemed to, and Zelda didn't take back her spell.

Even though Link still hated whatever it was, be it monster or baby, that was growing inside of him, he really did like that he now had a heat source to keep his bare hands warm.

Link's attire had really changed since he had become the Hero of Time. He no longer wore a heroic tunic, but a commoner's pair of jeans. He still wore a tunic-style shirt, but it was much shorter than all his others, and simply was to accompany the jeans in covering up his body. It was light blue. His hat was gone, taken with the outfit, and Link was hardly wearing gauntlets or iron boots anymore. He just wore standard boots, work boots, and left his hands bare, save for a small bandage he wore on his right hand to cover up the triangular scar left when the Triforce of Courage removed itself from his body.

Times had really changed.

As link explored the watery dungeon he tried to remember the path. He hated to admit it, but it was harder for him to navigate through without locked doors and stupid enemies to guide him. The only thing left were Keese. Link wasn't even sure if the keese had ever served Gannon. They could have just been pests for all he knew. They certainly hadn't vanished.

As he tried to navigate through the water he found it was incredibly difficult without the water tunic. He could hardly hold his breath long enough to find the next patch of air. With some luck, and maybe even some help from the goddesses, Link did eventually find the room he was looking for.

It looked just like it had in his dream, in his past. The floor was still a few inches deep with water, the fog was still hanging over it like an angry cloud, and there was still a tree in the center. The last time Link had been in this icy room, he was caught off guard in a wicked surprise attack. This time he didn't want that to happen again. "Dark Link!" He shouted. "Come out here!"

Just to be safe, Link drew his sword. This was just an average sword, and he wasn't entirely sure it could even _hurt_ Dark Link, but he felt safer with it. The room was silent. Link felt his stomach gurgle in hunger and for a brief moment he thought he felt _guilty_ about it. Like he should be guilty for not feeding a curse? Perhaps starvation was a good way to get rid of it too. No, he was certain that that would only successfully kill him. He frowned a little and lowered his sword. Did Dark Link die when the rest of the monsters vanished? Link had thought that he wouldn't, but now he was unsure. He moved towards the tree and took a seat on the little island.

Even if Dark Link wasn't here, there was no reason not to try and recover a little before he tried to find the way out. He lay back, stretching his body out on the damp sand and stared at the infinite ceiling. _I'm just so confused._

Suddenly he felt a huge weight drop on his stomach, and he cried out a little in shock and pain. That _hurt_, and while he wasn't entirely sure that it bothered him that it could have hurt the baby, he was angry that it had in fact hurt his own self. He opened his eyes to see Dark Link sitting on him. What was with this demon and surprise attacks?

"Miss me?" he purred while pulling out his sword. He held it over Link's neck with a devilish smirk. "I certainly thought you had forgotten me."

He was still dressed to mach Link as the Hero of Time. He had on the same black tunic and grey tights. Link stared up at him, flapping his lips. What was he supposed to say? He hadn't planned that far ahead. He just knew he needed to see Dark Link. While he was lying underneath Dark Link, though, the thought crossed his mind that maybe he'd been wrong. Dark may have cast a spell on him, but he might not have. Then what would he do?

Link searched his mind for a back-up plan, anything else that could have cursed him with no avail. Dark Link cleared his throat.

Link looked into his eyes with a bit of confusion.

"Well, um," Dark Link began, "It's much less fun to kill you when you aren't entirely focused on your demise." He then placed his sword up against Link's neck, so much so that it almost hurt, and scooted forward on his abs.

With a sudden and most unpleasant yelp, Dark Link leapt up and pointed his sword at Link's belly. For just a moment Link felt a wave of concern and fear run over him that didn't involve his own life. He shook it off. Why was he so worried about this baby? He didn't want it! He didn't want to worry about it, or he might grow attached to it.

"Whaaaat was _that_!" the shadow demon almost shrieked, flailing his sword wildly at Link. "Why are you like a hundred degrees warmer there? Do you know how _awkward_ that is to sit on?" He lifted up Link's tunic a little with the edge of his sword, peaking under it to see if his stomach was on fire. "Do you have a burn or something?"

Link growled and sat up onto his elbows, shoving his shirt back down into place with a mild blush. "You shouldn't have been sitting on it." With a groan he brought himself to his feet. It wasn't really a tired or hurt groan though. It was just an 'I don't want to get up' groan. He looked at his reflection in the water and touched his neck. Dark had slipped a little and hurt him when he panicked. There was a little bit of a cut, but it hadn't drawn blood. Then after adjusting his clothes and making it clear to the demon he had no intention to fight him yet, he spoke.

"Did you put a curse on me last time I was here?"

Dark raised an eyebrow. "Yes… why do you think you're here? I put a curse on you that would bring you back here, so I could finally kill you." He looked proud of himself for his magic working. Link tried to digest the information. Kill him? That didn't sound like what the case really was.

"Did you do anything else?" He half-whispered, afraid of the answer, "I really need to know if it was you."

The black clothed man shook his head and pulled his mouth back inquisitively. "No sirree. I only put a spell on you to bring you back here." But he had to do a double take at the hero, because he thought he saw a few tears welling up in his eyes. He stepped closer. "That warm thing on your stomach is a spell," Dark started, feeling a tinge of guilt. "I can help you find out who did it."

Dark wasn't sure what made him want to help Link, but he just felt bad. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy, and Gannon had only fooled Dark Link to believe he was.

"Princess Zelda did that." Link scoffed.

"Why did you ask me if I put a spell on you?" Dark asked. Not only would he probably feel a little guilty if he had unintentionally hurt Link, but he would be angry that his own magic did the _opposite_ of what he wanted. He wanted to fight Link, not put him out of commission. He was moderately creeped out too, seeing Link crying a little. He hadn't cried in battle, why was he crying now? "Did it do something more than bring you back?"

Link shook his head. He wasn't going to have this conversation with a demon. He didn't want to. He just began to head for the exit, dragging his sheathed sword in the water behind him, leaving a sad trail. Dark Link waited for a second before jogging over to him. "Hero?"

Link tried to suppress a laugh. Some hero he was. He was more of a joke that used to be a hero. Hero to Zero. But he stopped and waited for Dark Link to continue.

"I have dark magic," the shadow began, "and I can help you. How will I ever get my rematch with you if you aren't fighting back? That's simply not fair."

Link shook his head. "You can't help me."

"I could if you would just tell me what's wrong!" Dark Link shouted over him. He even sounded desperate for a minute. This rematch was important to him, he wanted to prove his worth, to fulfill his purpose in life.

Link pulled out his sword. "If it's _so_ important that you have your fight, then fine," he held up the blade, "let's fight."

The demon looked away for a minute. "We can't."

Link raised a curious eyebrow. "Why? You have an advantage? You still have all your magic, weapons, and skill. I'm a little lacking in those categories right now." He ran a hand through his own sandy hair and felt the weight of his eyes. He was very tired. He wanted to go back home.

Home wasn't at Lon Lon Ranch, although he spent most of his time there. His home was a little cottage off in Hyrule Field between the Kokiri Forest and the ranch. That way he still felt close to his old home, but wasn't a whole day's journey from the Castle Town by horse. Home had a rather comfortable bed, and warm blankets. Even the dry clothes sounded good to Link, and a smile almost crept to the corners of his mouth.

Dark Link opened his mouth to answer Link's question. "You're obviously not at full strength, and so it would be a pointless rematch. I want to fight you when you're able to fight back, so I can prove that under any circumstances I can defeat you." He put his hands out towards Link, in a silent 'it's okay' position. "Now let me help you."

Sky blue eyes rolled. "You _can't_ help me. No one can _help me_." Link growled.

"Yes I can!" Dark shouted. "Just tell me what's wrong!"

"Nothing is _wrong_ it's just STUPID!"

"THEN TELL ME WHAT'S STUPID!" Dark practically screamed. He noticed Link flinch a little and tried to calm down, but in an equally irritated voice added, "I am a _demon_ not your little fairy, and my help should be considered something of a gift, not something to be taken for granted. I am _happy_ to retract my offer, if you so choose, but if you want any of my own magical input perhaps you should just tell me."

"Fine." Link glared at him. "I'm pregnant. Happy? Something cursed me, and I'm pregnant."

"W-what?" Dark gasped and the anger drained from his voice as he followed Link through the doors and into the temple. "What do you mean p-pregnant?" he stuttered.

Link groaned. "You know, that thing where a baby grows inside of a person until it's born? That."

Dark was mildly irritated. "You must not think highly of my intelligence. I _know_ what being pregnant is, Hero. I was just under the assumption you were a _man_. Men don't get pregnant."

Link pushed the demon against the wall in a fit of rage. He held the demon's throat against the stone with his elbow and pushed hard. "don't you _ever_ imply for one _second_ that I'm not a man. I'm EVERY BIT as much a man as you, and any other man. I told you, I was CURSED."

Dark put up his hands and pushed him back. "Hey, I didn't say you were sipping tea in a skirt or anything, I just don't understand!" He continued to follow the hero in silence for a while.

Link didn't mind the company out of the temple. He just wanted to go home so badly, and he knew he had a long ride ahead of him. Once they got close to the entrance and Link was preparing to dive into the icy water again, he turned to the other man. "Why are you following me?"

"Why did you come back here, then? Did you think I did it?" He answered link's question with a question, which just wore the blonde's patience thin.

"You said… Something about a mother. The words of your curse said something about a mother searching for her children. That's why I came here. I thought maybe you had done it." He threw his arms up and laughed a little hysterically. "Now I'm a step _behind_ where I was this morning! At least then I thought I knew who the thing's rightful parent was. Now I can't even say that!"

Dark froze on that thought. _Rightful parent_. Was that him? Had he fathered a child on accident, when he meant only to bring Link back for another fight? "I… I can help you a little."

"Dark," He started, "Can I call you that? Dark?"

Dark Link nodded. Gannon called him that, and he even referred to himself that way, so why not?

"Look," Link continued, "I'm glad you think you can help, but I don't think there's much you can do."

Dark shook his head. "I can tell you if it was created from a curse, spell, or blessing. I can probably tell you if it's a monster or not too, and if it's got evil energy."

Link pondered that thought. "_how?_"

Dark shrugged. "If you let me look into your mind, I can tell you a lot."

Link questioned him again and Dark explained that he could create a "mind link" between them. It would let Dark view everything his body felt and did, inside and out, in a mental perspective. It would also let them communicate to each other from far distances, like a psychic connection. Link shrugged.

"Will it hurt?" He asked, but before he even finished Dark was pushing a piece of black energy, shaped like a diamond shard, into the shorter man's chest. Once it was in it dispersed and Link coughed a little in shock. "Ow!"

Dark pondered for a moment. "Yes. Yes it will hurt a little." He answered. Link frowned at him.

"Fair warning would have been nice."

Suddenly Link felt a feeling of nausea rush over him, and just like when Zelda put the spell on him so he could feel the baby's warmth, he thought he was going to throw up. It didn't die down quickly, and he even made way and ran a few feet away to throw up away from his equal. He waited for it, but the nausea just died down instead. He sighed, collapsing to his knees in a dizzy spell. Dark stayed by the door, and watched him. "Are you alright?" He called

"Fine," Link waved his hand and then touched his belly with his finger tips. He still felt a little nauseas. "Did you do anything yet?"

"No."

Link silently cursed the answer. He had hoped that the nausea was the side effect of Dark completing his task of answering some of Link's questions. When he turned around, Dark had a blank look on his face, and his eyes were glazed over.

"_Can you hear me, little hero? I'm in your mind now."_

At first it startled Link. He couldn't really hear Dark's voice, but he just sort of _thought_ it, and recognized it as Dark. He looked back over, but was sure it came from his head. He wondered if it worked in reverse, and so he concentrated on Dark and then thought to him.

"_Did you figure it out? If it's a curse?"_

"I did." Dark answered back, suddenly back in his own body. "It is a curse, Link."

_I knew it_. He thought to himself. He looked back to Dark. "What else did you see?"

Dark thought about it for a minute. "It looked like a regular, Hylian baby to me, Link. It was created from a curse, but I don't think it was a monster at all. It doesn't even seem more powerful than a normal baby."

Link frowned and slowly started into the icy water of Lake Hylia. "Why are you helping me?"

"I want my rematch fair and square." Dark answered for the second time.

Link dove under the water and began to swim for the surface on the other side of the strange wall that hid the temple. When he surfaced he could see that it was almost sun down, and he had wasted his whole day in the water temple. He swam towards Epona, who was waiting patiently on the shore with at least _one_ of the things he wanted: food. He had packed plenty of food, and regardless of how he felt about the baby, he wanted to eat.

"_Are you just going to walk away from me?" _Dark whispered into Link's brain. Link shook his head and watched as Dark materialized on the shore, by Epona. Link crawled out of the water and started to wring out his clothes while he stood.

"I don't understand," He started, "How long does this mind thing last?" He asked, looking into the ruby eyes of the demon in front of him.

"Forever." Dark answered with a smirk. Link shrugged.

"Oh well. I guess we won't make much use of it. If you could teleport you should have taken me with you. I'm already freezing and I'm not going to have much daylight left to warm me up."

"You had already left." Dark Link answered. "May I escort you home?"

Link then felt a twinge of nausea and stuttered. "W-why?"

Dark looked away for a few minutes. "I've messed up curses in the past. I'm not… not that good at them." He answered, demonstrating his magic by using it to quickly dry off the hero's clothes. It didn't make him any warmer though. "I just don't know. I couldn't tell what curse _caused_ that baby, just that it was in fact a curse."

Link pulled two sandwiches out of the pack strapped to Epona and handed one to Dark. The demon eyed it suspiciously. Link blinked. "Don't you eat?"

"Hardly. I don't need to."

"Ah, well, have a sandwich." Link answered, biting into his. Even before it hit his stomach it felt good to have food in his mouth. He smiled. Life was getting a little better. He looked up at Dark. "What does it matter if you messed up the curse or not?"

"If I was the one who cursed you, doesn't that make that baby mine?" Dark quietly added to the conversation. Link hadn't thought that fact really mattered.

"I guess." The blonde looked down at his tummy. "But that doesn't matter. I'm just trying to figure out how to get rid of it."

Dark held the sandwich in his hand, still not out of its paper wrapping. He met Link's gaze. "Don't get rid of it."

Link froze mid-bite. He pulled the small meal away from his face and looked at Dark Link, who had a genuinely serious look on his face. "Why not? I don't want it. I couldn't raise it anyway. I haven't even experienced enough to teach it what it would need to know, and if I had to rush off to save the world again then I would have no one to take care of it."

"I'm sure you'll want it when its born." Dark bit his lip. "I never had a purpose except to kill you for Gannon. Now that he's gone I just don't have one. I want to help you. If it's mine and you don't want it then… I do. Maybe even if it's not mine." He sighed. "Then at least I would have a new purpose. To help you, or to raise a child."

Link thought about this. It would be nice if he had someone to talk to through all this, and if Dark wanted the baby then fine, he could have it. Link would feel less guilty if he gave it away than if he killed it. He nodded. "Okay." He replied. "If you help me, and if you keep me company, and run errands for me so I don't get made fun of or anything… then you can have it."

Dark smiled. "I still think you'll want it when its born."

…..

"Home sweet home," Link stated when they came upon the small house. It was pretty basic, with a straw roof and log walls. Link led Epona into a small fenced area with a roof over it, so she could stay there for the night.

Dark looked it over and agreed that it was a home, but he wasn't sure how sweet it was. When he entered though he was surprised at how it looked. The place was neat and kept up, with some decorative pottery in the corner. There was a small sitting area with a few chairs and a fireplace. Past that there was a cramped kitchen with a few stools by the countertop where someone could eat. There was a set of stairs that led up to what Dark assumed was a bedroom. He smiled.

Under the stairs there was a tiny storage room that Link quickly disappeared into. Only a few minutes later he returned with some heavy blankets, a feather pillow, and what looked like a rolled up, giant pillow.

"This is a mattress," he started, "That I used when I was traveling so much. It's really thin, but it's better than sleeping on the floor." Dark nodded. It must have been obvious that he didn't know what it was.

"I'll sleep down here on the floor, and you can have my bed upstairs. It's not more comfortable anyway." Link started to flap out the mattress and spread it on the floor. After a moment it fluffed up, being made of some kind of spongy material. After that he threw the blanket and pillow down on it and headed towards the kitchen to start a fire in the oven. "Do you like tea?" he called.

"You can't sleep on the floor," Dark replied in a delayed reaction.

"Of course I can. It's my house. I'll sleep wherever I want." Link said, successfully lighting a fire. He then went to the other side of the room where there was a barrel of water and dipped in the teapot. Once it was hung over the fire, he sat down in a chair.

Dark shook his head. "You shouldn't sleep on the floor. It can't be good for…"

Link simply glared at him to prevent him from finishing that sentence. "I don't care."

Dark looked down at the makeshift bed. "I care."

It was a lost cause. Link was firm in his word, and refused to go upstairs for the night. After a while of arguing, Dark finally obliged and went to bed.

Link lay in bed for a few minutes before sleeping, sipping his tea. The only other person who could have cursed him was Gannondorf. He did yell "curse you" a few times. But that could hardly count could it?

When Dark stumbled down the stairs the next morning he noticed that Link wasn't on the couch. He straightened up his appearance before searching the whole house. He wasn't there. When he walked out to the stable he saw that Epona hadn't gone anywhere. He looked around outside to no avail, until he started to head back to the house.

"Dark Link!" shouted the voice of a stalfos knight. He turned to see it out in the field. "We've been looking everywhere for you! We already captured the Hero of Time. You can come back now."

"What?"

"Gannon wants to have a word with you. He says he needs to talk about something." The Stalfos continued.

"W-who?" Dark gasped. "Ganon?"

"Of course! Since his escape he has been building up forces again!"

Dark had never liked Stalfos. They were a little bit scary. Their bones were practically crumbling, and they were just walking skeletons with swords. "Where at?"

"The temple of time, in the chamber of sages, stupid." The skeleton stared at dark with its empty eye sockets. "Now that he has escaped, Lord Gannon wants to fulfill his curse on the hero of time."

_Curse?_ Dark thought to himself. The stalfos shook his head.

"What are you brain dead? To kill him! Gannon cursed Link so that he could come back from the dead and kill him!"

"Right." Dark agreed, and then vanished in the direction of Hyrule Castle


	3. Trouble Comes In Threes

_Here we are at Chapter 3 and I'm still very proud of this story. I'm expecting it to go on much longer than the first one did, but we'll see. Thank you for reading._

…

Link had a bump on his head the size of an orange and he had a headache that rivaled it. As he opened his eyes and they adjusted to the strange lighting of the room he was in, he realized that he was in pretty deep trouble. He recognized the musty smell and the cold, stone walls right away. He was in the Temple of Time. The door of time had been opened. He got to his feet and rubbed his stomach. He wasn't entirely sure why, but it seemed that with every passing day he felt a little more concerned for the child inside of him. Maybe Malon and Dark were right. Maybe he would end up wanting it.

Link had thought long and hard about what Dark said the day before. Dark wanted the baby. Even if it wasn't his. Link had no problem giving it to Dark, he didn't sense any evil in him anymore. Link had never really been good at sensing evil, but he had some intuition. The thought that someone wanted the baby made Link feel more secure about it though, and he wanted to keep it safe. Now he didn't want it, but someone did, so Link wanted to protect it.

He also liked the idea of having Dark around. For now Link was certainly capable of taking care of himself, but what if he couldn't later on? What if some monsters attacked him when he was super pregnant and weak? He would have no defenses. Having Dark was great, because the demon's desire for the child would make him more protective of Link.

Maybe that was a selfish outlook. Link had thought a few times that using Dark as a shield was a stupid thing to do, that he would anger the Demon. But after he had thought about it for so long, he came to the conclusion that he would be getting the baby, his prize, at the end so it shouldn't matter. He should have to work for it. He should be there for Link—he's the one who did it, after all.

And then there was that thought in the back of his head. The only other curse that was even _imagined_ at Link was from Gannondorf. He had vehemently shouted at him, and when Link looked into his dying eyes he didn't see fear, but raw energetic power. Link continued to hold his hands on his front, holding the warmth. He silently hoped that Gannon's curse was just a threat, and not real. He did _not_ want to have Gannon's child.

The air was cold against his cheeks and he grumbled. This whole winter was going to be a long and unfortunate process, especially with him hating the cold. At least he would have his built in "hand warmer" for the time being. At first Link was confused about the extra heat. Surely a baby so small it needed a microscope to be seen couldn't produce that kind of heat. Zelda then had to explain to him that she had amplified it greatly. She said she wanted him to have that as a reference so that if it ever went back to normal, cold, he could find her immediately.

It was like everyone else wanted the baby to be healthy but him. Well, it wasn't _like_ that, it _was_ that. Link hated that too—it almost singled him out as a bad guy. He didn't want the baby. But as much as he wanted to kill it, he would have never done it. There were places, shelters, which the baby could be taken to if he wanted to give it away. Now that Dark wanted it, he didn't even have to do that, and theoretically the baby would be with _one_ of its parents. That was an even better situation.

Then there was this strange feeling he was getting in his heart. It was almost the same sort of feeling he got when he felt like something bad was going to happen, or when there was an enemy around. It was a tugging feeling, brief, and simply said 'no'. Zelda told him he would probably develop something called "mother's intuition" that would help him know if something was wrong. She said that if he ever felt like there was just something "not right" to find her as soon as possible.

How could women simply _know_ something is wrong with a baby that isn't even born? It isn't able to cry yet, or ask for help. But when he felt that tug in his heart when he thought about the safety of the baby, he wondered if maybe it was his own intuition (which he for now refused to call motherly). With a start he was brought out of his thoughts, and back to the room he was currently in.

Link needed to think up a plan. He didn't see anyone in the temple, and he stood on his tip toes to see if he could see anything in the back room. He couldn't. So what should the plan be? The door of time was open, that meant something was going down. Link thought about it, suddenly getting an eerie chill. He was having one of those intuition moments, but this time it wasn't related to his curse. He just felt _bad_.

Zelda would know what to do—she always did. He should find Zelda. He started to back up, until he collided with someone. He looked back over his shoulder and was looking up into the face of Gannondorf. He yelped and tried to back away from him, but tripped on his own twisted feet and fell onto his bottom. He scooted away from Gannon as he approached, feeling all the blood drain from his face. "Y-you're alive?" He squeaked out.

"Of course I'm alive!" Gannondorf bellowed in his deep, menacing voice. Link gasped as the giant of a man reached down and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. Link wasn't fond of flying, and he was happiest when his feet were planted firmly on the ground, so the idea of being held two of three feet off the ground by Gannon was not a happy one.

Gannon stared into Link's panicky eyes and smirked. "You are nothing more than a mere _hylian boy_ without the power of the Triforce. You are just an average nobody and you will die today." Gannon grinned from ear to ear. He hurled Link into the wall and the blonde cried out as his shoulder hit the stone.

That hurt. For a brief moment Link thought he might have dislocated his shoulder, but he didn't have a moment to recover before Gannon was throwing him against the shrine where the three spiritual stones once were.

Link hit that shrine right in his gut, and felt like he was about to throw up upon impact. He gasped and choked for a second, having the wind knocked right out of him, before he was overcome by an angry cramp in the front of his abdomen. That cramp was worse than the initial hit. It felt like his whole front half was being devoured by a molten hot knife and it was twisting around in his body.

He reached down and hugged himself, half in fear, half in protection, and stared wide-eyed at Gannon. He was not worried that Gannon would find out he was pregnant. He was actually pretty sure that if he didn't already know, he probably wouldn't find out ever. Just because a man held his stomach the way Link was didn't mean he was pregnant. There was actually nothing about Link that screamed "baby on board", and so he tried his best to breath and ignore it. Besides, _anyone_ who was experiencing the pain Link was in would be holding themselves.

"No, Gannon, don't!" he squeaked. He only laughed.

Gannon had the scariest appearance of anyone Link had ever seen. He was dark skinned, as king of the Gerudos, and had orange-red hair. He had a thick beard that followed his square jaw, and devilish eyes that made Link feel uncomfortable and weak. The worst part about Gannon was his voice. He had this dark, deep voice that carried no matter what room he was in. It was firm, powerful, and intimidating. His word choice was always the one that would portray the most pain, and he was just all-around scary.

Just as Gannon was about to hurl Link again, Dark Link burst into the Temple. Gannon smiled and regained his composure quickly, but all Link could do was grasp his aching belly. He looked up into the eyes of his counterpart and fought back the tears in his eyes. This hurt _bad_.

"Dark Link! So happy you're here! You're just in time to see the death of your enemy!" Gannon chortled. "But first, you and I must discuss some of your powers. I feel as though I should grant you some new strengths, since you lost your last battle."

Dark nodded, and as Gannon continued to speak to him all his attention was stuck on Link, desperately crawling backwards into the Master Sword's chamber. Dark wondered what Gannon had done to Link to hurt him so badly he felt like he couldn't stand up. He also wondered what he would do once he drew the sword.

Dark's line of vision looked up to the sword, where he felt a strange power radiating around it. It was a spell… the same spell that cast ice on the Zora. He gasped and ran past Gannon.

"Hero!" He shouted, just as Link put his hand on the sword.

Link screamed in a new kind of icy pain that traveled up his arm. It the frozen glass made its way over his whole body in no time, leaving him posed on the floor, reaching for the master sword. Gannondorf laughed excitedly.

"I knew he would fall for that!" Gannon smiled. "Now he will be easily disposed of. Dark Link, why did you run like that? You almost looked like you were trying to help him." The man raised one of his giant eyebrows. "And I _know_ that couldn't be the case. You are heartless."

Dark froze. _Lie._ "I was trying to stop him from getting the sword. I hadn't felt the power of the spell until I got closer." The demon answered. He slowly walked over to the ice and looked into Link's eyes. They were wide with shock, but glazed over. He could still read the expression of pain on the hero's face, frozen in an agonizing moment. One had was reaching for the Master Sword, while the other was supporting his weight. His knees were twisted in the direction that he had been reaching, since he had been crawling back there.

It broke the demon's heart to see Link like that. He hated the almost dead state he was in. Dark had done some deep considering about Link, and came to find that he didn't want anyone to hurt him. The only one who should be able to fight Link was Dark himself. It was the only fair way for things to be, in Link's condition.

Besides, Dark had already decided he wouldn't ever hurt Link again. He wouldn't fight him with the purpose to kill him, as he had originally wanted. With the baby inside of him it wouldn't be fair, and afterwards Dark was sure that Link would decide to keep it, and how could he kill someone who had a child to take care of? Dark was _not_ heartless, just a little inexperienced in romance. It was something he never felt before, and he wasn't even sure that he felt it towards Link.

The only thing Dark knew for sure was that when he was with Link he wanted to keep him safe, to be his silent hero, and when he saw Link frozen the way he was… it pulled on Dark's heart and mind like a child trying to get the attention of its parents tugs at their clothing.

Gannon stood next to Dark, trying to read his expressions, and just being entirely confused by them. "Dark Link," He began, "I have decided to put my trust in you to make sure that there isn't anyone else who can save the Sages. If they are released from their prison, they will be able to stop me again."

Dark nodded silently, keeping his eyes on Link. He stared at him with such a mysterious longing that totally stumped Gannondorf. He tried to stare the same way, to see what the Demon was seeing, but couldn't.

Gannon frowned. "It is because it was your purpose, isn't it?" he tried to solve the mystery of the demon's gaze. "It must be. Because you were created to kill Link, it must be bothering you that I have told you I will kill him."

No. That was not what was bothering Dark. What was bothering Dark was the shape of someone he genuinely cared about was trapped in a chunk of ice, ice that no human or animal heat could ever melt.

"If it is so troubling to you, I will save him here, and let you kill him yourself,"

Dark was confused by this. Had that been his intention, he would have certainly taken that deal. It was very unlike Gannon to put the feelings of a demon that he had created before that of his own desires, and Dark was stunned. He stared confused into Gannondorf's eyes until the man smiled and turned away.

"You are developing feelings, I see," He began. "Feelings that allow you to have desires, it seems. I had never planned for this. I can now see that the more you experience, the more you will desire, and the more you will feel. It is obvious to me that your sickening, lazy defeat in the Water Temple is what makes you want to kill Link yourself, instead of me."

Dark wasn't sure he agreed with _anything_ Gannon was saying, but he nodded. The longer Gannondorf thought Dark Link was on his side, the better.

"I will let you be the one to kill him, but only if you complete the tasks I give you." Gannon smirked. "The first task is to find Princess Zelda. That girl must be psychic, because she has gone into hiding again. Find her, and bring her to me."

Gannon stepped closer to Dark, and Dark in turn stepped away. He didn't know what Gannondorf had intended to do, but the way his arms were held it almost seemed like it would have been an embrace. Dark did not want a _Gannon-hug._

Dark changed the subject suddenly to a rather large scar on Gannon's right hand, in the shape of the Triforce. "Sire, may I ask you about your hand?"

Gannon glanced down at it. "It is from the Triforce." He simply answered, "When I was banished, it removed itself from my body and reunited with the other pieces. I will need to find the Triforce again. It seems as though they have relocated it." He growled.

Dark wondered if the bandages on Link's hand covered up the same type of scar. It seemed like talking about the Triforce brought Gannon out of whatever funk he had been in, and Dark breathed a sigh of relief before his master spoke again.

"Go now, Dark Link, and bring me princess Zelda."

Dark walked slowly and thoughtlessly out of the temple, and out of the castle town market. The skies were already beginning to darken, and he knew that soon monsters would totally repopulate the land. It was wrong.

He sat down in the grass by the field and watched the clear water from the moat run by. It would soon become cloudy and unclean.

At least Link wouldn't be killed yet. Gannondorf was a man of evil, but he was very true to his word. He was not a liar. Dark found a chill run down his spine when he thought about the way Gannon spoke to him in the temple. He spoke in a soft voice, almost like he was trying to comfort him. That voice was not one that Dark could easily forget, and it almost scared him. He preferred Gannon to be menacing and evil. At least that way Dark could recognize him.

As he was about to stand up, and possibly even try to _find_ Zelda, a blast of green light began to shine in front of him. In a moment it faded, leaving the shape of a small girl.

She didn't look afraid of Dark. Her eyes were deep ocean blue and bright. She looked like she had so much hope sealed up inside her that her eyes reflected that. She had light green hair that was a little bit curly, and curled up around her neck and cheeks. She wore the same kind of clothing that link had worn a few months before.

"I am Saria," She began, "Sage of Forest. Dark Link, I need your help. We all need your help." She sat down on her knees next to him and spoke softly.

"We didn't know what was happening when Gannon broke free of his prison. We thought that by sealing him away in the sacred realm, with us, not only could he never escape, but perhaps we could rehabilitate him in a way. We tried to make him more hospitable, more kind."

Dark thought back to what Gannondorf had said to him in the temple of time. He was generous, and the demon had never known him to be before. He nodded, and waited for Saria to continue.

"He fooled all of us. He pretended to be cured of his evil ways, and befriended us. When we came to trust him, he tricked us all, and one by one trapped our souls in the very place we felt safe."

"He trapped you in the sacred realm." Dark nodded.

"This was not supposed to happen." Saria whispered. "We sages have no power left, and what we do, we're trying to conserve." She looked up into his red eyes and smiled. "and we were distressed to find out that the Hero of Time is pregnant."

Dark rolled his eyes. "He was pretty distressed too."

"Link cannot fight Gannon the way that he is now. His body has already begun to redistribute its energy to that baby. We are lost now, without a hero."

"Yeah, that's rough." Dark nodded, looking at the water. It was already less clear than before.

Saria scoffed. "What I'm getting at is there is only one other person who's strength and courage can compare with that of the Hero of Time's."

Dark looked up at her. "Who?"

"His shadow." She answered. "You Dark, must save us sages. Once you have done that we can use our power to once again seal Gannondorf away. We can seal him in a world far away from us, and he will no longer be a menace to Hyrule."

Dark raised an eyebrow. "You're sending a _demon_ to do a _hero's_ job?"

Saria ignored his comment. "I don't have time to argue with you. Listen to me. This is the first time that all of the sages have needed to be awakened at once. Now that we are trapped, we need to transfer our powers to people we feel can best support it. This is hard to explain.

"There cannot be more than one sage of the same type alive at the same time. Because we need to escape in order to seal Gannondorf away, we are transferring all of our powers and our titles into the bodies of other beings. These people are not, and were never meant to be, sages, but they have the spirits that are most identical to us and our power. They will all be sealed in the temple of time, in a trance until you awake them .

"They will all come from different places, Dark. Some of them will be from other demensions, while some will be from the future or the past. This is a very dangerous thing to do, but we have no choice. Once you awaken them as sages they will all be able to help you on your quest. When all of them are awakened they will seal Gannondorf in his castle, as we once did, and then use their powers to free us.

"After we are freed our powers will be restored to us, and the people we bring here will be rightfully sent back where they belong and their memories will be erased of these events. This is the only plan we can come up with at this point." She bowed her head and looked over the horizon. "It will be hard to find them in the temples, but we had to seal them away in the safest places we knew. That was the temple that they should protect in the holy chambers where we sages once were. We have them in a trance so that they will not being to fear what is happening, or try to return home."

Dark sighed. "How can you expect me to do this? I can't fight evil. Gannondorf is controlling me! He is the only one who can _kill_ me. How can I do this without him knowing?"

"Tell him you're trying to stop it. Tell him someone else is doing it, and you keep trying to catch them. I don't know, Dark. We _need_ you to do this. Link needs you to."

Dark shrugged. "Fine."

Saria clapped her hands together in excitement. "Great! Just like Link did you must break the curses on the temples. Because you were born of evil, you may not wield a weapon that repels evil, however, you can still defeat the foes that lie ahead of you."

"Doesn't an evil lord take a _vacation_ every once in a while?" Dark grumbled.

"Perhaps if you save Link, he will be more inclined to have feelings towards you." Saria smiled. "Now you must go. The only temple that you are equipped to face currently is the Forest temple. I would suggest going there first. The Kokiri have not yet been touched by Gannon's evil, and so they will probably be afraid of you. Please, be kind to them. They have already lost so much since the death of the Great Deku Tree."

Dark wondered if having Link like him better would really make him happy. Was it likely that the Hero of Time, who had always shown interest in women, suddenly decide to switch teams? Besides, the attraction that Dark felt towards the Hero was probably only because he had nowhere else to direct those emotions.

Dark nodded, and as Saria's form began to vanish (which dark assumed was because she was actually trapped in the sacred realm) she added, "We have summoned Navi to help you. She has great knowledge of these temples."

"What!" Dark shouted. "No! I don't want that stupid fairy!"

…

Gannondorf had spoken to a lot of his minions that day, but not one of them made him feel as strange as Dark Link had. He was worried about his creation. It was, after all, like family. He was powerful, and his magic was possibly much more powerful than Gannon's.

It wasn't everyday that a demon of that kind of power wasn't able to function properly on its own. Gannon had designed Dark to be his own puppet, to do his bidding, and to not be happy without some kind of purpose.

The evil king sighed as he looked over towards the master sword. Then something of the most interesting variety caught his eye. As he made his way over in a quick pace, his eyes confirmed the sight.

The ice was melting around Link's stomach. And in an almost perfect little circle.

This needed to be investigated.


	4. Aryll and the Forest Temple

_Chapter 4. This is the first chapter I'll be posting that anyone has had to really wait on. I'm a pretty quick updater though, so it shouldn't be a long wait. I'll take just enough time to make it a awesome. =D_

_**Mystical Gems: **__you are my heart and soul. I indirectly love you now. Just so you know. Don't be on the streets after dark. =3_

…_._

"We're lost." Navi stated in her high pitched voice. "We're lost again, and it's your fault."

Navi and Dark had never gotten along, even if they had only met once. She was loud, bright, and her little body could travel at the speed of sound it seemed.

They were in the lost woods, surrounded by grass up to Dark Link's knees. It was humid in the woods, a dramatic climate change from the water temple that Dark was used to. The walls of the forest were all trees that had grown nearly too tall to see the tops of, and they were covered in dense moss and thick vines.

Dark hated to say it, but this really was his fault. He had no experience in the woods at all, and thought he could just run through it. That was wrong. Everywhere he went it seemed he ended up at the beginning again! He finally noticed what looked like an exit and walked through it.

When he was situated back at the beginning he looked around hopeful that something would call out to him. It didn't. He sat down on a tree stump and held his face in his hands. "I already suck at this." He muttered. Navi flew down and stood on his knee, unsure what he meant.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, "It's a maze, it's meant to be hard." She wanted to encourage him, but her level of dislike for him was too high to really ignore. She perked up her tiny ears. "Can't you hear the music?"

"Yes," Dark answered, "But it's not doing any good. It doesn't seem like it's at all louder by one door than another."

This was stupid. He was running around in a forest maze while Link was in a block of ice. What he wouldn't give to trade. "I was never meant to be a hero, Navi," He confided. "I don't even know if I'll be able to kill some of these monsters. Lord knows that Gannon might have replaced the dungeon bosses with new ones. What if I can't do it? How will I save him?"

Navi coughed a little in her tiny voice. "You will save _the sages_ by doing as they said. They wouldn't put everything in your hands if they didn't think you could do it. Now let's go over this forest again. Have you been paying attention to where each door leads? You can get through by a process of elimination if you have to."

Dark nodded, but wasn't convinced. All he remembered was to go right through the first door and that was if he had a good memory. He shook his head. This would take all day.

….

Gannondorf held his hand over the red ice that had been holding Link captive and it melted in an instant. Link gasped when he was able too. He had missed breathing in the few hours he was trapped, and he really didn't want to give it up again. As his blood-drained face began to slowly regain its color, Link looked up off his hands and knees at Gannondorf.

Gannon didn't waste time beating around the bush. It was not in his nature. He simply lifted the boy to his feet and asked "How are you able to melt my ice?"

Link was entirely confused. "What are you _talking_ about? If I could melt the ice I would have escaped by now." He crossed his arms over his chest. He was ready to accept that he was indeed a prisoner now, but he wasn't sure how long. He looked at the various exits and contemplated escape. He was brought back to his reality when Gannon growled at him in anger.

Gannondorf had bad breath. It was something that Link had first observed the first time they met face to face, and was now observing again. The odor was low, steamy, and pretty unidentified. As nausea attacked Link again, he theorized about how much he would rather throw up than feel sick all day.

"You melted the ice, ice that cannot be melted by _any human body temperature_ with your stomach." He stated, cornering Link in back of the room. "How?"

"I-I uh," Link couldn't think of a reasonable excuse. Even the truth sounded stupid at this point. _Well Gannon, Zelda cast a spell on me so that my stomach is about three times warmer than every other part of my body. Cool, right? _

"Speak!" Gannon growled, smacking the hero against the wall.

"I don't know!" Link answered. "Maybe your ice is just faulty!" He reached up a hand and rubbed his head. He was tired of being a toy to smack around whenever anyone pleased.

Gannon pulled back his fist and gave Link a hard punch right in the area of debate before picking him up and throwing him to the floor beside him. "You will _tell_ me."

The pain of the punch passed relatively quickly. It couldn't hurt more than the cramps he was still having anyway. The shock of the punch didn't wear off as easily though. What if Gannondorf killed that baby? Then Dark would be upset. He might leave, or he might even kill Link. The hero didn't know the answer.

Link didn't _want_ Gannon to kill the baby, he wanted to give it to Dark. That way it would have one of its parents to guide it in life, and everyone would be happy. Part of Link even wanted to raise the baby _with_ Dark.

That part of Link was very small at this point, but mysteriously growing every time Link saw Dark. It must have been the feeling the demon imposed. It wasn't a scared feeling, or really a loving feeling, just a _safe_ feeling. It wasn't new either. Even when Link battled Dark in the water temple, he felt safer than when he was alone. He felt calm around Dark, level headed.

Gannondorf was staring at Link, a confused glare on his face. Link looked up at him with tears in his eyes. The tears were just a tangible reflection of his fear and it hurt Link to feel them. He had never been a one to cry before. It was a rare occurrence. Since he had visited Zelda it was like it had become his favorite hobby.

To be fair, it was understandable why Gannon was so confused and angry. Link was pressing his hands against his stomach in a pretty unusual way now, and both of them knew he wasn't in pain anymore. Link tried to stop his tears quickly, and he moved his hands away to help him shakily stand up. He glanced at the door again. He was in a lot better position to run now.

Almost as if Gannon had read his mind he created a set of chains made out of yellow energy to hold him in place. Link groaned. "What's _with _you Gannondork? Can't you have a fair fight?"

"There is something you are hiding from me, and I _must_ know. Tell me your secret!"

"I'd rather die." Link spat.

Gannondorf quickly pulled back his fist and punched the hero again. Link cried out and tried to cover himself, but his hands were chained and there was nothing he could do. He winced as Gannon's fist made contact with him. He hated this. He wanted to run. He wanted someone to save him.

"You had better watch your attitude, Link." Gannon snickered, "Because now I know how to hurt you." Link stayed quiet, and Gannon continued. "I am going to as you a series of questions. I want a straight answer, a yes, or a no."

Link rolled his eyes. Gannon must have taken that as an "okay I will" because he started to ask questions.

"Are you a shape-shifter?" Gannon began. He lowered his fist to cross his arms across his chest. Even just asking questions, he was intimidating.

Link shook his head. That was a stupid question. The only shape-shifters he had ever seen were evil. Obviously he wasn't evil, and so his answer was, "No."

"Are you a magician?" That was a little different. Link had earned a lot of magic over the course of his quest, but when it was through Zelda made him return everything to where it came from. She said it was best to leave the items where they belonged, in case evil ever returned after Link had passed away, or was too old to fight.

"No." Link was not a magician. Just a man who could wield whatever magic was blessed onto him.

"Are you sick?" Gannon continued. Link rolled his eyes.

"Only sickened by your face." Link smiled to himself. That was a good one. He wasn't entirely sure why he was purposely pissing Gannondorf off, but he was enjoying it. He just hoped that Gannon wouldn't hit him more for it. That would make it less fun.

Gannon shook off the insult and continued his interrogation. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm in _pain_ thank you, but not seriously injured." Link scoffed, once again thinking about the various bumps and bruises he had gained since he came here.

Gannon cleared his throat and shuffled his feet awkwardly before asking "Are you a man"? Link narrowed his eyes in a little bit of anger.

"Obviously." He answered, and the next person who said anything like that was going to get sliced in half by his cheap-ass _not_ master sword. Well, he had the Biggoron Sword in his home—Zelda didn't make him give back what he one or bought fair and square. She only made him return what was taken from the temples. The magic wasn't necessarily _gone, _but Zelda took the actual spells. If he could remember what their words were he could probably use them. Maybe. "I'm bored of answering questions.

Gannon cleared his throat. He looked down at the Hero of Time and searches his eyes for answers. "Alright, one more." The king of evil had to admit, he was confused, but he could only think of a few explanations for why the Hero's body heat was so elevated there. If it was none of the previously mentioned ones it either meant he had been cursed with a fire spell… or…

"Let me have it." Link groaned. He was sick of playing 20 questions.

"Are you pregnant?"

The question rang in the air. Link looked away, choosing not to answer that one. How had those questions led Gannon to that conclusion? He was trying to think up an excuse or lie to give him when he felt the familiar pain of the gerudo's fist in his gut.

"Ah! Yes! Yes I am!" Link gasped, once again having a mental argument with his tear ducts. "Stop hitting me!"

His own voice disgusted the hero. He was begging not to be hurt. That was pathetic. Part of him drifted off into the sacred realm. How had Gannon escaped anyway? Did the sages just leave the door open for him to walk out? The only bigger question was that of how Gannon restored his body. When he was killed it was his _spirit_ that was sealed in the sacred realm, so that it couldn't be reborn into another person. How in Hyrule had he managed to fix his body? It had been in a billion pieces!

Gannon stepped back for a moment before reaching forward and pulling up the hero's shirt. Of course there was nothing there but Link's flat, bruising tummy. He examined it thoroughly and then touched it with his bare hand to feel if the warmth was in fact stemming from there.

Even with Link's affirmative answer, Gannon as cautious. If this was truly a baby causing the heat, it must have been powerful. Powerful enough to display that kind of magic early on in life. What kind of sorcery could create heat like that? The list was narrow: Fire demons, such as Flare Dancers; Spells that cause burns; and magic from Din. All of those seemed interesting.

_Why is this shirt lifting thing the reaction that people are having? Why can't they just say okay and be done with it? _Link thought to himself. Then a new thought crossed his mind. He wasn't an ice cube anymore. Maybe he could call out to Dark! But before that idea got played out, Gannondorf was talking again.

"How did this happen," He nodded towards Link's stomach.

"D—um," Link decided it was probably for the best not to bring Dark Link into this right now. "A, uh, Wizrobe cast a curse on me." He thought up brilliantly. Wizrobes could to anything.

"Are you lying?"

"No." _Why would I ever lie to you?_ He thought.

They weren't even playing 20 questions anymore. Link was just answering questions now, trying to develop his lie. He wanted it to be believable, and he wanted it to be good.

Link wanted to keep Dark out of this. He was pretty sure that Dark wasn't involved in the whole situation with Gannondorf. At least that's what Link wanted to believe. Honestly, he was a little shocked to find that he didn't do _anything_ to save him from the ice cube, but he had tried to warn him so maybe he was still on his side. That would be better than nothing. Anything would be better than where Link was now.

"How long." Gannon breathed, almost… desperately? Link eyed him suspiciously, unsure what he meant. "How long has this been going on," the evil king clarified.

"A month." Link answered, proud of his story thus far. A month meant that Dark Link couldn't have done it, Link had beaten the water temple _two_ months ago. He was very hopeful that Gannon would take that to mean it couldn't have been the Demon, not that he suspected him or anything.

"Yes," Gannondorf growled. "You mean a month _after_ I was defeated and the Wizrobes were vanquished? You're _lying_!" There was never a truer statement, and Link flapped his mouth searching for a new lie to dig him out of this one. Unable to find one, he settled for his favorite childhood answer.

"Who wants to know?" Link shouted back at him. He was done. This game was boring, and he knew he was just going to have to hang around in the temple of time until _someone_ saved him, so he decided this whole conversation should end. He felt that perhaps he was being childish, but he was _not_ tempted to discuss this any longer. He wasn't even tempted to think about it. What else could he think about while he was a prisoner?

"I will find out how this happened." Gannondorf whispered in the hero's ear. Link shivered, in a bad way. He didn't like the feeling of Gannon's lips brushing against his ears, and he didn't like the dark lord's hands on his hips the way they were. It was a very… sensual position. One that let Link sense all the things he had always hated about Gannon, and smell the rancid breath as a bonus. He felt exposed under the Dark Lord's body like that, and he just hated it. Not to mention it was a little _suggestive_. What if someone walked in the temple and _saw_ them like that? What an idea.

"Don't touch me." Link snapped, totally ignoring Gannon's claim. Gannon traced his fingertips down Link's cheek and under his chin, tilting his head up to look into his eyes. "Stop that." The hero growled, turning his head away from him.

Gannon smiled, squeezing the hero's cheeks together with his hand and threatening to break his jaw. Link only narrowed his eyes in response, not giving in. He may be pregnant, but he was still a hero. A hero that had _way _too much pride, admittedly. Having every other piece of recognition stolen from him though, why shouldn't he have his pride? The only people who could recognize him as the Hero of Time were the people who knew he was in the first place. No common person could—only his friends and enemies.

Gannon threw down his hand and turned away. He only looked back over his shoulder to make sure Link was securely chained up.

Link watched as he made his way out of the Temple of Time, leaving him stranded. He closed his eyes and thought about everything that was happening to him. Perhaps it was being beat up, or maybe it was just a side effect of his curse, but he was more tired than he had ever been.

"_Dark"_ he mentally called _"Dark, help me, please."_

But before he could get any further in his conversation, exhaustion defeated him and he fell asleep in his chains.

…

Dark Link crept up the stairs in the far end of the abandoned manor that was the forest temple. The whole thing was infested with spiders once again, which made Dark shiver a little. He _hated_ spiders. He hated them a lot, so much so that he had worked out an arrangement with Gannondorf that there would be _no_ skulltulas in the water temple. Even with that bargain there were still a few gold ones that snuck in, and the tektites which may have been worse than the spiders to begin with.

There was just something about the hanging spiders that made Dark advance another step in the direction of suicide.

He had been wandering in the temple for hours. Navi was flabbergasted when she saw the inside of the building—it had totally rearranged itself. She even flew in a few circles in confusion.

Dark could feel Gannondorf's dark magic here, and assumed that he was the one who rearranged the temple. What else could it be? Unless the sages were screwing with him, it was probably evil that did it. He opened a door, the only one they had yet to explore so far, and finally came across the last of the four Poe Spirits, Meg.

She was sitting on the floor in the center of the room, crying lightly. Dark wondered if she had been given feelings. Why would Gannondorf give one of his creations feelings and not the other? He had never been taught to feel sorrow, until he met Link. He learned most of his emotions from his experiences with him. When she looked up at him she shrieked and split into four separate ghosts.

Navi was talking before Dark had the opportunity to ask her what to do. "She's divided herself into four parts, but only one of them can be hurt. You have to find the real one before she hits you!"

Dark stood in the center of the circle and watched the four poes float around him. "How do I tell them apart?" He asked, but Navi had no answer. She couldn't remember the secret. So Dark examined them. As they circled him, they would all keep a firm gaze on him… except one. One of them would spin much sooner than the others. Dark took his guess and shot his arrow at that poe.

He was right.

Dark had found the bow in the temple, in a treasure chest. He was sure it was the same bow that Link once had. He didn't know why Link would have gone back to the temples and put _back_ his weapons though.

It was a good thing he did. Dark wouldn't have progressed through the temple at all if he hadn't found it. There were so many things that _needed_ to be cleared by an arrow. The switches to open doors, puzzles, the _poe sisters_. The demon hated to admit it, but he was very lucky. He had _tried_ to use his own bow and arrows, the copy that Gannondorf had created for him, but it seemed useless against the enemies.

He found himself surrounded by Meg again, and so he once more searched for the poe that would spin first.

Navi had theorized that perhaps the reasons Dark's own weapon didn't work was because it wasn't the _Hero's Bow_. Dark had to accept that as the best answer for now, because he had none.

Once Meg was hit a few times, she was vanquished and her own soul-flame lit up the room. There was a door across from the one Dark had entered, and he assumed that would be his next destination. Navi looked around. "Last time we were here, Meg was the last part of opening up an elevator leading down to Phantom Gannon." The fairy whispered. "I wonder if, since the Poe Sisters were here again, Phantom Gannon will be the boss."

Dark bit his lip. He certainly _hoped_ not, because Phantom Gannon wasn't like Dark. He wasn't a demon that had no connection to Gannondorf. Phantom had a straight up link with Gannon. The same kind that Dark had given to Link, a mind link.

If Dark were to fight Phantom Gannon, Gannondorf would be the first to know. He opened the door in front of him and sure enough there was a rather large elevator in the center of four colorfully lit torches. Dark gulped. Hopefully Phantom wouldn't be down there.

"This isn't what I remembered," Navi whispered when the elevator lowered. There wasn't a rotating room. It was just a large empty area of land. It was hardly lit at all, and Dark almost felt like he would have an advantage of not being seen until a giant lantern appeared in the center of the room.

In just a few seconds the walls of the room were all covered with death inducing spikes, and a large, round creature appeared, holding the lantern. It took no time in beginning to spit fire out of its light.

"Navi, what _is _that?" Dark shouted.

Honestly, Navi had no idea. She had never seen a creature like that before in any of the Great Deku Tree's books, and she hadn't experience it herself. It was like a giant combination of a poe and a moblin. There was a strange blue tattoo on its stomach in a spiral as well, but she wasn't sure that meant anything.

Dark went about avoiding the creature, trying to find its weakness, but couldn't. He wasn't even sure what it was. It didn't look transparent, but it did sort of look like a poe.

Navi watched Dark struggle not to be blown into the spiky walls by the creatures heavy breath, and something new about their surroundings dawned on her. There were little windows in the room, covered up by other poes that didn't seem to be doing anything except hiding the light.

Maybe that was this monster's weakness. Maybe it was the light. "Dark! Shoot the little poes in the windows to let in some light!"

Dark nodded. _Anything_ would be better than continuing to be blown around and burned. He shot one of the poes on the wall and it was vanquished with a wail. A beam of sunlight broke in through the wall, and the unidentified monster screeched in pain. This was good.

One by one Dark took out the remaining four poes, opening the windows to reveal more light. When the monster was struck by the fourth beam of light, it was defeated.

Dark watched it shrivel into a small ball of nothing before it burst into light. "What _was_ that?" Dark frowned. He had never _seen_ that before. Not in any of Gannon's many armies.

Navi shook her tiny head and landed gracefully on Dark Link's shoulder. "I don't know. I studied all of the Deku Tree's books, and I thought he knew of all the creatures in creation, but Gannondorf must have created new ones. I never saw that before."

Suddenly the creature's remains turned into a bright blue light on the floor, and a small heart-shaped gem appeared on the floor. Dark looked at it with mild confusion. "What is _that_?"

Navi smiled, knowing the answer. She flew over to the gem and circled it few times. "This is a heart container. The more Link carried on his person, the stronger his defenses were. It was very helpful to him. Maybe it will work for you as well. Pick it up, and see if you feel stronger." She smiled and pointed to the blue light. "That is an exit portal, which will lead you to the holy chamber containing the Sage."

Dark stepped forward and picked up the heart-shaped trinket. He couldn't say for sure if he really felt stronger when he did, but he did feel different, so he tucked it away into his pocket. Then, once Navi was situated on his shoulder, he stepped into the portal.

…..

When Dark and Navi materialized in the holy chamber, they were surprised to see it wasn't at all like the sacred realm. It was just a room overlooking an ocean.

_Ocean_? Dark thought to himself. _There are no oceans in Hyrule_. But sure enough she was facing the sea, out on a balcony, and staring at the seagulls that flew over it. Dark was sure he had no idea where they were, and even ran to the window to look out over it himself.

"Where are we?" He gasped, looking around. He couldn't see any of Hyrule field, only speckles of islands in the distance.

"You are in my own Holy Chamber," The girl beside him whispered. Dark turned to look at her.

She was just a teenager, probably fifteen years old, and had a childlike innocence in her eyes. Her eyes were absolutely stunning, and Dark lost himself in them for a few minutes before he caught her speaking again.

"Every time you find a sage, their Holy Chamber will be different. It is just a reflection of the lives we live, and what we desire. This isn't real." She added to the statement by waving her hand over it. The whole room disappeared, revealing that they were just in a small stone room overlooking Hyrule Field. Dark looked out over it, and swore that the familiar cliffs and mountains were located in the same places that the islands had been. The seagulls had vanished, leaving behind just ordinary birds. She continued to speak. "This is where we really are."

She was wearing a silly outfit for the time of year it was. It was fall, drawing towards a cold winter, and she had on a blue tank top with two red flowers decorating it, and a pair of shorts that didn't even come down to her knees. She also had a translucent wrap tied around her waist, making it appear like she was wearing a skirt although she wasn't.

Her hair was sandy blonde, similar to the color Link's was, and fell in layers around her neck, but not reaching past her shoulders. Dark smiled at her. She looked… very beautiful, for her age.

"Where are you from, that there are Seagulls?" Dark asked. He had never even heard of an ocean, except in Termina. He had never been there though, and had no intention of ever traveling there.

She shook her head with a weak smile. "I cannot say. If I do, then I will be giving away information that could change the world."

Dark rolled his eyes. "I just wanted to know where you're from. I didn't ask to know the deepest darkest secrets of Hyrule."

She shook her head and reached out her hand. She had a beaded black bracelet on her wrist made of pearls, another thing rarely seen in Hyrule. He was about to question if she was even Hylian, but her ears were pointed and she had the trademark blue eyes, so he just ignored that desire.

"I am the temporary sage of Forest," She began, "That Saria has chosen to replace her."

Navi flew over to her and she flinched back a little bit. The little fairy frowned. "What?"

"I'm just not used to seeing fairies, that's all." She laughed. "Where I come from, I live on an island. We don't have fairies there, and they rarely visit us." She reached out and stroked Navi's cheek with her slender fingertip. "In fact, I've never been this close to one."

Dark raised an eyebrow at the young, but still admittedly attractive, girl. "If you know about the sages, and that you're supposed to be one, why are you so surprised by the fairies?"

She laughed, and Dark felt a little embarrassed for a moment. "Because even though I know _what_ I'm supposed to do here doesn't mean that I'm not impressed and surprised. I never thought that I would see a lot of the things that I already have. It's really sad that I won't be allowed to remember it."

Dark remembered what Saria said about the temporary sages forgetting the time they spent with him, and he sighed. "Oh well. Bad things happen." He didn't have time to sit and chat, but every time he looked into the girl's eyes he felt trapped in her gaze.

"What's your name?" He asked her, still locked in her icy stare. She smiled.

"My name is Aryll." She answered this while walking over to a small treasure chest on a table. It was strange that Dark hadn't noticed that chest prior to now. Maybe when the room was still an illusion it had been hidden.

Navi thought about the name Aryll. "That's a lovely name."

"Dark, I will now grant you my powers," Aryll said, giving Navi a soft smile. "As the forest sage, I can help you locate other sages, and I can help you restore the balance of nature to Hyrule." As she handed him the round treasure, Dark looked down to see that it was the Forest Medallion.

Just as he touched it, a green light spread across the floor and out of the room. He once again ran to look over the balcony to see that all of the plants in Hyrule that had been killed by Gannon's power were slowly regaining their vibrant green color. He turned around. "Do we really need to restore the land to how it's supposed to be? Won't that all go away when Gannondorf is vanquished?"

She nodded. "It could be, but in the few minutes it took us to restore the land, you have weakened Gannondorf's power over Hyrule."

Navi landed on Dark's shoulder and smiled. "It feels lighter already."

Dark sighed and looked over the window peacefully. Maybe when the sages asked him to save them, the expected him to save _all of Hyrule_?

He certainly hoped not. That could take a long time, and with that time there were things that Gannon was bound to notice about Link.

….

_I would like to make some comments here. The monster I described was actually a boss from another game: Jalhalla, from Wind Waker. I did change it up a bit though. I thought that since I was pulling the characters from other games that it would be interesting to pull the bosses from the temporary sages respective games as well. _

_Aryll is from the Wind Waker. She is Link's Little Sister. I aged her up a few years to fit my story, but I'm trying to keep her pretty similar to how she is in that game. _

_I'm sorry if it's confusing, but after I introduce a new character I will always tell you who they are and where they're from down here, so you can even google them and look at pictures of them. (Not that all of those pictures would be accurate to the age I have dubbed them in my story)_

_See you next Chapter!_


	5. Komali and the Water Temple

_Hello again, dear readers. I'd like to start today by doing a mini reply to some questions and statements in the previous reviews:_

_I have played through and beaten: Ocarina of Time (it's my favorite), Majora's Mask (including Fierce Diety), Twilight Princess (When I got to those hands that chase you while you're carrying the spear in the Twilight Realm, someone walked in on my playing it [I keep doors shut to avoid distraction] and I screamed), and Wind Waker (Which wasn't actually me, My husband beat it for me, but I watched him do it. It took time to grow on me, because at first I was very against the art, but then after I realized just how awesome the story is, and how the art it had benefited it, I gave in. Now I think it's just cute)._

_I have read about/played a little of/or seen people play all the other games except for Link's Awakening, which my husband began to play yesterday. I just read the Four Swords manga the other day. =D BLUEXRED 4-EVER_

_I apologize for the sages being a little naïve, and for Zelda inexplicably making Link return his items to their temples, but that's something I wanted to progress my story. How can something made of evil (Dark's weapons) kill evil? He needs the hero's. _

_I don't want anyone to think that Link is going to be angry about the baby through the whole story. As all of you who read the first one know, eventually he'll love it, even if it takes holding it to figure that out._

_Finally, the characters I have chosen from the other games I did a lot of research on. Aryll, as I chose, was Link's Sister from the Wind Waker. She is the most in-tune with nature person, I feel, besides Marin. I didn't choose Marin because I didn't want to conflict Malon, who is essentially the same person. All of my "temporary Sages" will have their own stories, backgrounds, and personalities. Enjoy!_

…..

Navi was very sure that Dark had lost his mind. She had told him three or four times that he was going the wrong way, and he simply chose to ignore her. She frowned, deciding to rest her wings on Aryll's slender shoulder and sigh in defeat.

Aryll was a ball of cheerful energy, partially off-setting the fact that Dark was essentially a cloud of misery. Her hair bounced around her as she walked, and she smiled at Dark when he finally turned around to face her. "Yes?" She asked him, not failing to smile.

"Why are you so _happy_?" He asked, pointing over Hyrule. "This is a world of evil, and you're smiling!"

"I'm happy to see Hyrule." She answered firmly. "I've never been here before, and it's absolutely beautiful." She looked all around. "Even if it's a little messed up right now."

Dark couldn't even stand it. There she was talking about the beauty of a world he lived in, and all he was doing was staring deep into her sky blue eyes and thinking about how beautiful _she_ was. Was that gross? She looked about fifteen, and Link was 18. Dark however, didn't have an age. Maybe that meant he wasn't too old to—he stopped his thoughts there and pried his line of vision away from her eyes.

Every time he looked at her like that he felt a wave of guilt wash over him, and he knew that he shouldn't be this attached to her when he'd only known her a few hours. The other part of his guilt was that he knew he was being thoughtless about Link. He didn't know yet if he _loved_ the hero, but he knew that he felt regret every time he laid eyes on anyone else. That had to have something to do with it.

He didn't know how these feelings for Link were developing. Perhaps it was just the idea that Link was having a baby, _Dark'_s baby, and some kind of animal, paternal instinct was telling him that he was in love with Link. Maybe it was the fact that when Link was with him, no matter what his intentions were before, he ended up dropping his weapon.

Or maybe it was because Link was the first one to show him compassion. Even in his own trials, even with his curse, Link was willing to hear Dark out. He let him come home with him, was going to let him live with the hero.

Dark blew that in one night, letting Link be kidnapped the way he was. He looked up just in time to hear Aryll finish up a sentence.

"…and that's why I feel so connected to Hyrule, even though it has no ocean." She smirked at him, a new level of cuteness coming from the teenager. "You weren't listening, were you?"

Dark shook his head. He probably should have lied and said he was, but he didn't want to start a trail of lying with Aryll. She was different. She had the same effect on him that Link did: total awe. He felt a blush creep into his cheeks as he asked her "What did you say?"

Navi flew a circle around Dark's face a few times and shouted "Why don't you listen?"

He plucked her out of the air by her wings and tried to glare at her, but had to admit it was hard to focus his glare at the tiny woman.

Aryll put a strand of her hair behind her ear and looked into the wind. "It even _smells_ different here. I can't smell the sea at all. It's so new and exciting." She watched Dark continue onwards in the direction he was going, and she smiled. "Where are we going, Dark?"

He sighed. "Lake Hylia, to the Water Temple."

Navi groaned. "We have to go to the fire temple first! We have to get bombs, just like Link did."

Dark hated to admit it, but he was starting to like that fairy a little bit too. She always thought she was right. That reminded him a little bit of Link, and in turn, himself. He waved her away with his hand. "Navi, I know the water temple like the back of my hand. I _live_ there. I don't need bombs to get through it. Even if I did, I have bombs, and I refuse to believe that blowing up a _wall_ requires 'hero' bombs." He nodded at Aryll before continuing. "She restored all the nature to how it was supposed to be when we beat that monster." Dark smiled. "If we can restore all the water to its natural state, I'm absolutely sure that it will be easier to go through that volcano. You have to remember that I don't _get_ a fire tunic. I don't have the money, and the Gorons probably won't give me one."

"Lake hylia…" Aryll had never heard of it. She had heard of most of these locations before, based on where she was from, but she had never heard of Lake Hylia. She looked at the sky, the sun slowly falling, and asked how long it would take to get there.

"By foot, probably a week or so." Dark answered, regretfully thinking about his hero in Gannon's care. "But I don't know for sure. I haven't done a lot of traveling, especially by foot."

_His_ hero. That was what he just thought. He turned away from the others to hide the small pink blush that made its way to his cheeks.

Navi sat down on Aryll's shoulder and agreed. "Hyrule is kind of like a pentagon." She stated. "We're going from the bottom right to the bottom left. It's probably going to take about ten days, assuming we camp each night at sundown and don't get held up by any monsters."

Aryll thought about this. She had always thought Hyrule was more like a giant rectangle than a pentagon. She thought about it and shrugged.

"Is there anything you can tell us about yourself that won't actually interfere with time?" Navi asked. "Do you know where you're from in reference to us?"

Aryll nodded happily. "I know where I'm from, based on where we are now. Actually, I know a lot about the differences in our worlds, but I don't know if all of the sages will."

"What can you tell us?" Dark asked, agreeing silently that conversation would make time go faster.

The blonde was thoughtful for a minute. "Well, as long as I don't tell you _where_ my home is, then I guess I can tell you a lot. I don't see how much it could matter."

"Great!" Navi smiled, and as the sunset fell behind the cliffs of the distant Gerudo Valley, she looked at Dark thoughtfully. "We should probably set up camp here."

"This early?" Dark frowned. "There's still some light."

Navi shook her head. "Just enough daylight left to set up camp."

With that Dark frowned and started gather some wood. Navi stayed with Aryll, who was gathering some rocks to line the fire with, so they didn't burn down the whole field. She also wet down the grass outside of the rocks, just in case.

Dark returned only a few minutes later, wood not hard to find this close to the forest, and began working on lighting a fire. He looked up at Aryll, who was looking for something to do to be useful. "Tell us your story," Dark instructed, avoiding her eyes.

Aryll sat down and smiled warmly. "Okay," She began, "I'm from an island far away, and live far into the future, because where I come from the Hero of Time is just a legend passed down by the older folk in the world, like my grandmother. I live in a small home with my grandmother, and my brother. His name is Link too. Isn't that funny? My grandmother insisted when he was born, said to bring honor to the family they should name him after the great hero, so my mom and dad must have just done it. They died when I was really young, my parents.

"I guess I lived a pretty peaceful life. There was a little hiccup when I was young, but I don't remember much about it. I just remember that I was kidnapped, and my brother saved me. After that he gave me this necklace." She reached up and touched her neck, where a small black chain was hanging. At the end of it there was a charm shaped like the black silhouette of a seagull. "He told me that Mum gave it to him before she died, saying that it was a symbol of courage. Our family was always known for their courage, but I never knew why. We really aren't any more courageous than anyone else. My brother was, but I think only because I was kidnapped. I don't know if he would have done it for just anyone."

She watched dark swivel the sticks, trying to create a spark of fire. She looked over at the sun, almost out of sight, and decided to continue talking about her life. She sort of missed her brother—she only had a few seconds to say goodbye before she was transported to that holy chamber.

"You have to sail in a boat to get anywhere. There isn't a field like this connecting everything. It's pretty cool though, being able to walk wherever you want." She looked at the lack of fire once again and added "Maybe if you try smacking together two of your arrowhead they'll spark the fire."

Dark hadn't thought of that. He grinned and pulled out two arrows, and sure enough it was only a few more minutes until he had fire.

"You sure do have a different life than us." Navi smiled. "I don't know how we'd ever survive if we had to live on an island. I think we'd all just go extinct."

Aryll laughed half-heartedly. "I bet you'd be okay." She decided that was probably enough talking about her home and changed the subject. "So, Dark, tell me more about Link. I never thought I would have a chance to meet the Hero of Time. I mean, he's a legend! At least… where I'm from."

Dark smiled when he thought about the hero, and started pulling out a blanket from his bag. He was surprised that he had brought one at all. Luck for Aryll, he didn't need a blanket. He was a demon, and so even though he would be uncomfortable, he would be much more likely to survive a cold night. He tossed it her way. "He's a legend here too." Dark answered her. "He didn't keep any of his hero-stuff, and now no one can recognize him, really. He just looks like your average guy."

Navi was a little bit interested in this story too, because she hadn't seen Link since she left him after his battle with Gannondorf. She curled up next to the fire and listened carefully.

"He didn't really deserve what happened to him." Dark bit his lip a little, and Aryll wrapped the blanket around her shoulders.

"Do you mean getting pregnant?" She asked, only knowing a little bit about the conditions under which the Hero was not saving her. "Or being trapped by Gannondorf?"

"Both," Dark frowned.

Aryll smiled. "You'll save him, and the sages. We'll help you. He'll be fine. Why shouldn't he be pregnant? The Goddesses are giving him a valuable gift, I would say."

"It wasn't the goddesses," Dark frowned and looked into the dancing fire. "It was me, messing up a curse."

Aryll smiled. "And that mistake was a gift. To both of you."

Dark sort of could hear Saria in her voice, since meeting the sage, and could sort of understand why she had chosen Aryll to be her representative. He wiped the grin from his face quickly and stared at her again. Her eyes only got more mysterious in the firelight.

Why was this happening to him? He watched how the shadows played on her face and he thought about kissing her, seeing how it felt to hold her. But he shook those thoughts from his head quickly and poked the fire with another stick. She silently urged him to continue his description of Link.

"He's like… he's like the opposite of a hero when you see him. He's smaller, smaller than me even, and just sort of… innocent. Even with all of the evil he's seen, he looks at each new person he meets with a non-judging smile and he just… he's a good person." Dark smiled to himself, grateful that the darkness would hide his blush.

….

Getting to Lake Hylia ended up taking much longer than expected because Dark and Aryll came to the agreement that they should first go to Link's home and gather some supplies, blankets, and food. They raided the corners of his home, packing a small backpack full of food, two bottles of water (and two empty bottles as well), and various little things like matches, a slingshot (which Dark had never seen the Hero use, but assumed it was his), and some strange seeds that looked like they could be used as ammo. At least Aryll would be armed now.

It ended up being a 17 day journey for them, two and a half weeks, and Dark wondered what Link was feeling. It wasn't until he stood in the same place that he had first started their mind link that he remembered it, and suddenly the idea of calling out to his hero was revolutionary.

"_Link? Link can you hear me?"_

…_.._

"_Link?"_ the voice hit the hero's mind like a bullet, and he was a little confused at first. After Dark didn't reply the first time he called out, he figured that the demon was just too far away to hear him. He looked around the room and didn't see Gannon anywhere, and continued the conversation.

"_Dark!" _he called_ "Where are you? What are you doing?"_

"_Saving you."_ Was the answer that came, and Link was a little confused.

"_How so?"_ the hero asked, totally in disbelief.

"_What can I say? The sages told me to break the curses on the temples and find a second generation of sages to save the first ones. But I'm going to get you out of there soon, as soon as I—wait a minute, are you still trapped in ice?"_

Link smiled. He was a little confused about the sages asking Dark to save them, but whatever worked, right? He was sick of being trapped in the Temple of Time. It was like torture, being just inches away from the Master Sword, and still totally unable to do anything to save himself. But Gannon hadn't been too cruel. He'd taken away the chains and replaced it with a mysterious, energy-based cage against the wall. He had even given the hero a blanket and sent food to him every day. It was a little bit… surprising.

"_No, Just in a cage now, made out of magic. Hey, I bet you could get me out! You have magic too!"_

Dark agreed with that. _"Just as soon as we're through at Lake Hylia, then I'll come get you before I go on to Death Mountain."_

Link smiled to himself, knowing that that was probably the end of the conversation. He heard the door open, and wondered if it was just another stalfos knight bringing him food. He looked up to see that it was actually Gannondorf.

Gannon snapped and the cage vanished from around Link, and he stood up to face him. Link had deliberately lied to Gannondorf about how far along in his pregnancy he was, but that didn't stop Link from knowing the truth.

If it had in fact been Dark that had cause the curse, then he defeated Gannondorf a month after he fought the demon. Five weeks later Zelda diagnosed the ailment as a baby. That would have been two months and a week. Now, almost three weeks later, Link had to guess that he was almost three months pregnant.

That scared him. It had only been a short time, it seemed, since he found out about the baby, and here he was already a third of the way through the pregnancy.

And so as Gannondorf drew closer to him, he sucked in his stomach the best he could. He certainly did not look pregnant, but when Link looked at his own stomach he could now see a little bit of a raise in it where it used to be toned with muscle. Now that muscle was gone, and his tight abs were slowly raising upwards.

To the Hero's great relief, the baby bump forming on him was still only small, and he was fairly certain that no one would notice it. No one but Gannondorf.

Gannon waved his hand and suddenly Link was unable to move, and floating in the air, so much so that his stomach was eye level with Gannon's face. He yelped a little when the man's cold hand reached under his shirt and pressed against him.

"So, you really are pregnant, then." He theorized. Gannondorf hadn't actually seen Link since that day when he first found out about the pregnancy, and had just sent his meals to him via monsters. Link had been shocked to see him, but it quickly turned to anger as he levitated in the air.

"Let me down!" He growled. Gannon laughed and lowered the man, as per his request, but didn't give him back any range of motion below his neck. He didn't remove his hand from the tiny bulge of Link's stomach either. "Go away."

"You are very certain that this happened just before we fought?" Gannon asked the hero. Link nodded. "That would be almost 8 weeks then." Gannondorf mused to himself. "I'm very excited, by this, you know."

Link scoffed. "By _what_?"

"By you having a magic-based child. It will be a shame that it won't be able to stay with you." He dropped his spell on Link and the Hero brushed Gannondorf's hand away.

"What do you mean?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in disgust at the greasy man.

"Well, a child of yours is destined to be powerful, but to also be created by a curse? That could make it one of the most powerful beings in the world. Perhaps more powerful than me." He crossed his arms over his chest. "That means I must be the one to raise it, be its father, and teach it to be evil. I will have a legacy to take over when I'm gone."

Link's face lost color again. Is that why he had been keeping him in a cage instead of in ice? Because he wanted the baby? The hero felt a familiar wave of fear run over him and stepped away from Gannon. "I won't let you have it."

"And what will you do?" Gannon asked, "When you have given birth do you think you will be strong enough to stop me from taking it? You will be unable to. After that I let Dark Link dispose of you, like he wanted to in the first place."

The mental image of himself lying on the floor, just having given birth (which raised the question of how that would happen), and being killed by Dark was a scary one. He didn't believe that would happen, of course, he had just spoken with Dark Link, and he was trying to save the sages.

But it still brought tears to the hero's eyes. Gannon only laughed, pulling the Hero into his chest by his head. Was this supposed to be a hug? Link didn't find comfort in Gannon's arms at all, only more fear. He bit his lip and pushed away from him, but Gannon raised up the cage around the hero again. "Be a good captive and perhaps I will move you into the castle, into a bedroom."

With that he left, and Link was alone again, crying on the floor. He sobbed until he was all cried out, and then ran his fingertips across the fabric of his shirt. Would he really lose his baby to Gannon?

…

Aryll offered to help Dark through the water temple, but he refused because of his explicit knowledge that it wasn't that difficult. He knew where everything was, and it would only take a moment to get to the chamber that once housed Morpha. Navi however wasn't as easily convinced and chose to follow Dark inside. Aryll said she would follow him in spirit, and when he warped into the Holy Chamber, she would also warp herself there.

Warp. Dark could teleport as well, but only short distances. He couldn't teleport from the castle to the lake, or from the lake to the ranch in the center of Hyrule. He could teleport a few feet, and the time it took him to actually disappear and reappear was almost equal to what it would take to walk. Maybe Aryll had that same power, and she would be able to warp to him just as he defeated the boss of the temple.

Dark was drawn out of those thoughts when he entered the temple and found himself unfamiliar with the room he was in. _shit_. Gannon had changed this temple as well. Navi looked around.

"So much for knowing the temple like the back of your hand." She whispered, floating over to a locked door. "There must be a key in here somewhere, because there isn't another door."

Dark shook his head in disbelief. "This is…" A little bit of anger washed over him. Gannon had never consulted him on this, he totally changed around Dark's home without asking. "This may not be how I remember it, but this is still _my_ temple." Dark growled, approaching the padlocked door and holding his hand over it.

The lock broke off rather instantly. Navi gasped. "Why didn't you do that in the other temple?"

"I can only do it here." Dark snapped at her, obviously upset that his home had been changed. "In my temple."

Navi floated beside him and whispered "I thought you were going to live with Link, now? Doesn't that make Link's house your home?"

Dark didn't answer. She was sort of right, but he wouldn't admit it for the world, and so he just continued storming through the dungeon.

Much like before, all the monsters in it recognized him as one of them, and did nothing to stop his progression through the temple. He was certain that if he hadn't hurt the poes in the Forest Temple, the other monsters wouldn't have hurt him either. But obviously at some point he would have to dispose of one of his evil companions soon enough, and then they wouldn't trust him here either.

Navi looked around the room they were situated in, and Dark wondered where to go. There were _two_ locked door this time, and neither of them were locked with the bosses key. "I think you should go right, Dark. Usually that leads to some kind of dead end, where you would find a key. Maybe this time it will be the boss key?"

Navi spoke solely on the experiences she had with Link. Dark did as she said thought, and entered the door to the right. When he did he found that it contained something that had never been in his dungeon before: spiders. They were everywhere! They were crawling on the only other thing in the room, a blue and gold treasure chest, and they were hanging from the ceiling and walls.

He almost jumped out of his skin. He _hated_ spiders. With a furious growl he pulled out his bow, knowing that his sword probably would hurt them since they were also evil, and pulled back an arrow.

"Dark!" Navi gasped, "If you shoot one, they will _all_ attack you!"

It was like torture, staring at the one thing that really got to Dark, really _scared_ him, and being unable to do anything about it. He looked at the chest. Navi had been right, again. That had to have the boss key in it.

If he could will it to him with his mind, he would have, but he couldn't and so with a shaky foot he took a step forward into the room. The spiders absolutely ignored him, but just their presence was enough to make Dark hate his life. He looked around, all different sizes of skulltulas were dangling and crawling around. He made his way to the chest and bent over to open it.

When he did, to his terror, about a hundred baby skulltulas crawled out of the chest, and many more stayed in, swarming around the key.

"You have to reach in there and get it, Dark," Navi whispered, equally grossed out by the swarm of tiny spiders.

Dark seriously considered vomiting.

Navi sighed. "Dark, do it for the sages."

That wasn't very convincing. He started to reach in, but when a large skulltula crawled over and began to devour some of the smaller ones.

"Try again." Dark whispered, going pale in the face.

Navi gagged a little. "That's… scary." She whispered, moving down from Dark's shoulder and working her way into the folds of his Tunic. She did _not_ want to be eaten. Thos baby spiders were about her size.

"O-okay, I'm done. I can't do this." Dark whispered.

Suddenly an apparition of Aryll appeared before the two of them, and she reached down and touched the spider. It seemed unaffected, but she looked into Dark's eyes and smiled. "It's just a spider, Dark. It won't hurt you if you don't hurt it."

"It's about a thousand spiders." Dark spat.

"Do it for Link," She encouraged. "Do it for your baby."

That last part struck a chord in Dark. His baby. It was his, wasn't it? He wasn't sure if his curse had caused the pregnancy, so he couldn't be sure, but all signs pointed to him. Besides, even if it wasn't him, he wanted the baby. He wanted to have a family.

When he looked back up at Aryll she had vanished, and dark valiantly reached down into the spiders and pulled out the key, shaking off a few spiders as he did.

The larger skulltula looked up at him, and strange as it seemed, spoke. "Dark link! What are you doing?"

"I'm… Gannon ordered me to…" He couldn't take it. He slammed the chest shut, splitting the soft-bellied spider in two.

Suddenly all the billions of eyes in the room were on Dark, and Navi shrieked. "Idiot!" She hissed. "You're going to get us killed—or worse, eaten!"

He ran towards the door, spiders of every size, shape, and variety jumping on him, biting him. "Damn, damn, damn!" He spat as he flung them off and began to shoot them with the Hero Bow. When he made it to the door he slipped out and slammed it shut behind him, leaving the spiders behind.

Needless to say, he felt like he had bugs on him. He patted himself down all over, and there were none, and even Navi checked for him, but he still felt like they were all over him.

"Well," Navi whispered, "Shall we find the boss?"

Dark walked across the hall into the other door, which to his great pleasure had no spiders behind it, and he saw the blue and gold door. He wondered what was awaiting him inside, and turned the key in the lock eagerly. He couldn't wait to get out, and to go save Link.

The room he entered looked like a desert. This didn't make sense. What did a desert have to do with the water temple? He looked around only to see a giant sand snake weasel out of the ground, and glare up at him. He drew his relatively useless sword and got into a defensive postion.

"Navi?" He asked, hoping she knew what to do.

Once again she had no idea what this monster was, but its ability to seemingly fly and dive into the ground certainly reminded her of Volvagia. She couldn't have known how to beat it though.

She didn't have to find out though, because when it rose out of the sand it opened up its gargantuan mouth and exposed its large, disgusting tongue. On the tip of that tongue was an eyeball.

"Dark!" Navi started, but the shadow man already knew what to do.

He pulled out his hookshot (which was also a mirror of Link's, since he had not bothered to retrieve the real one, and failed to enter his own chamber to get the long shot), and used it to pull the eye-tongue to him. He tried to slash it with his sword, then, but to his despair it did nothing, and the sand monster quickly returned to his game of flying under the sand.

"Oh no," Navi gasped. "What do we do?"

Dark was at a loss. What did he have that could kill it? He only had arrows, and…

_This will be interesting_ Dark thought as he targeted the monsters tongue once again. He pulled out a single arrow as he did and when the eye ball was close enough he began to bash at it with the tip of the arrow, puncturing it over and over. It hissed in pain and dove under the sand.

Navi didn't argue the point that the arrows shouldn't be used like that, she only wondered if it would be enough to kill the monster. She hadn't realized just how important the master sword had been.

With another good eye bashing, the monster hissed and died, leaving behind another heart container and a portal.

Navi sighed deeply and flew down to Dark. "That was… pretty good thinking." She whispered. "You did good."

He reached down and picked up the pocket-sized heart container and pocketed it before letting Navi land on his shoulder, and stepping into the blue portal.

….

This room was much different than Aryll's had been.

Aryll was standing next to dark when he arrived, just as she said she would be, and looked over at her with a tired, weak smile. She had on the backpack that had all their supplies in it, and she offered him some water. He decided against it and stepped forward.

Similarly to Aryll's chamber, there was a large balcony overlooking something. In fact, Dark was fairly certain that it was the _same_ room, just in a different location and overlooking something else. He didn't even have the energy to bother questioning the sage; he just walked over to the railing on the balcony and looked over the ocean. "Hey," He muttered to the man next to him.

He turned to the side to face Dark, and the Demon looked up at him. He was pretty darn tall, probably nearing six and a half feet, and wasn't… human.

Aryll gasped from across the room. "You, you're a Rito!" She cried. He looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

The room was looking over a high cliff, which in turn was also looking over the ocean. It was actually very similar to Aryll's chamber, but this time different islands were in view, and he could see a land full of other creatures similar to this sage.

Dark took in the man in front of him. He was tall, but that aside he was very noble. He had one hand resting on the railing that Dark was leaning on, and the other had dropped to his side. His hand seemed to be covered in dark skin, skin that Dark wasn't sure if it was smooth or had a light layer of fur on it. That same skin composed his face and body, save for two Wings coming down from the sleeves of his shirt. One wing, folded of course, enveloped his hand, the dangling arm, while the other one parted at his elbow and followed gravity, draping like a long sleeve off of the horizontal arm. The wings were grey with black tips at the end.

His hair was a shimmering silver-grey, and his eyes were cherry red. There were two pretty dramatic wrinkles under his eyelids, and Dark realized that this man was probably ten years older than himself, or Link.

His shirt was about the lenth of Dark's coal colored tunic, and had three interlocking rectangles on it that reminded Dark of the Triforce. Upon closer inspection he spied a small Triforce in the center. He also was covered in gold jewelry, and it cuffed up his arms to his elbows, went up his neck, and even some of it was wrapped around the hair hanging down by his pointed ears.

His face was mostly that of a Hylian, save that he had a large golden-orange beak for a nose. He frowned at Dark, and the demon realized this one wasn't as pleasant as Aryll.

"I'm Dark." He squeaked, looking at the massive bird before him. Navi seemed rather stunned as well.

"What are you?" The fairy asked out loud, and the bird-man spoke.

"As that girl there said, I am a Rito. I am actually the chief of the Rito tribe, King Komali."

Aryll looked like she was going to say something, but she stopped herself. She watched as Komali then held out to Dark the blue water medallion. Dark accepted it and the room suddenly turned white.

"We will now restore all the water of Hyrule." Komali stated, not really with any permission, and a blue light traveled, much like the green one did, out of the floor and across the land. This time it was Aryll to run to the window, and she watched as Lake Hylia turned back to its crystal clear self. She grinned.

"Have you ever seen water so clear, Komali?" She asked with a laugh, and the Rito man raised an eyebrow. She put out her hand to him, and in an introduction that Dark didn't understand, she said "I'm Aryll, and I am from Outset Island."

His eyes widened a little, and he grinned. "I didn't think any of the other sages would be from the same place as I! I am from Dragon Roost, and-!" He looked over at Dark, who was just waiting for answers.

"I guess you two come from the same far-away place, huh?" The demon answered. That was just great, now he would feel left out. He hoped the next sage was from a place he knew.

Komali nodded, his aged eyes even smiling with him. He looked down at the Seagull necklace on Aryll's neck and frowned, almost reaching out to touch it. "I fear perhaps from different times, though."

Dark looked at the two of them and rolled his eyes. "What next, mystic sages?"

Aryll looked back to dark and ran over. "I forgot to tell you how proud of you I was for getting that key." She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Link's getting himself a great guy."

Dark raised his hand to his cheek and Navi raised an eyebrow. "I think," The fairy stated, "That you promised Link that you would save him next." She flew down to meet the Demon's gaze, interrupting his stare at Aryll. "Remember Dark? Link? The one having your baby?"

Navi liked Aryll fine, she just didn't like the spellbinding effect she was having on Dark. Link was in a pretty vulnerable state right now, and he _needed_ Dark.

Dark nodded, once again having to pry his eyes away from Aryll, who was already back over by the Rito, chatting.

"Wait," Dark asked, pointing to Komali. "Why is a _bird_ the water sage? How does that make sense?"

Komali looked over, not sure if he should answer that, but simply stated, "We Rito are descendants of Zora, who used to populate the waters of the world."

Navi bounced around in confusion. "Are you saying the Zora go extinct?"

Komali shook his head. "Not extinct, just… Few and far between."

Dark looked out over Hyrule. He could see the speck in the distance that was Hyrule Castle from this high perch, and he closed his eyes.

"_We're coming, Link. Hang in there."_

…..

_I want to point out that while Link did have to return his weapons to where they belonged, he couldn't possibly put the Slingshot back inside the Deku Tree, as it was dead. That is why he kept it._

_Also, the Boss I chose for this chapter was Molgera, the other large boss in the Wind Waker. I admit I changed him a little, but not nearly as much as Jalhalla, so I don't mind. _

_King Komali is obviously the grown-up version of Prince Komali from Wind Waker. He was the little Rito Prince that didn't want to climb the mountain to see Valoo, or get his wings, because he was afraid? His grandmother had just passed away, and everyone expected a lot out of him, and he was just a little bit scared._

_I've aged him up _a lot_ for the purposes of this story, and I hope you don't mind. I wanted to make him more interesting. _

_I'm not entirely sure when the Zora became Rito, but I know they did. If you played wind waker, the only Zora in the game is Queen Laruto, who says you should find her descendant, who is Medli, the Rito girl. The instruction book also say the birds are their descendants, and if you look at them they kind of look like Zora, in shape. It's pretty unknown whether or not the change was magical or evolutionary, but it was there. That is why it makes perfect sense for a Rito to be a water sage._

_To me at least. _

_See you next time!_


	6. Rescuing a Hero

_I want to give everyone fair warning that this chapter will probably have its fair share of DarkxLink sap. I hope you don't mind. :D_

_By the way, I actually have a map of Hyrule from the instruction booklet of the game, and I have a thumb tack, and I'm measuring my way across Hyrule by thumbtacks equal one week. So if you're wonder where I get my time and numbers from, it's a thumbtack. XD I feel very accurate doing it like that too. _

…..

The journey from Lake Hylia to Hyrule Castle Town was gigantic by foot, and Dark was a little bit worried that something bad would happen to Link before they got there. They had estimated about three weeks to get there, but they were stopped by a fire at Lon Lon Ranch, and because Navi felt so connected to the ranchers, they went out of their way to save them.

It was actually very mysterious to Dark that the flames came up just when they were in reach of the ranch. If it had been only hours earlier they wouldn't have been able to do anything at all for the Ranch. Dark had to admit, he hardly did anything. He just scooped dirt onto the flames that ravaged the stables with Talon and Ingo. Malon and Aryll were rushing to get all the horses and cows out of the barn, and into the field, and Komali was demonstrating his power as a water sage, by making all the grass and tree's surrounding the fire damp with dew, and unable to burn.

When the flames finally died down to just a small smolder Dark was the one who went inside to see the damage. It was actually very minimal, to Talon's enjoyment. It had started in the loft, and mostly just burned the hay up there. The only part of the floor that was damaged was by the window, which mysteriously was broken.

Upon further inspection they found the remains of an arrow, the head covered in soot and hot to the touch. Someone had deliberately started that fire, to burn the ranch down. Ingo frowned and offered his opinion that it had been Gannondorf, since the rumors of his return were being confirmed.

Ingo had it rough since Gannon had returned, because both Talon and Malon were a little nervous he would turn on them again. The poor old man wouldn't ever do such a thing, but he could understand their worries. After his first run with Gannon, Ingo knew his place now, and would defend the rightful ranch owners in the blink of an eye, even if he had to fight the dark lord himself.

…Not that he would _win_, but he would try. Probably.

Malon then insisted they tell her their story, once everything was fixed up and saved, and they were so happy to have beds after all this camping that they stayed perhaps a little longer than necessary. It took them a whole five weeks before the drawbridge to the town was in sight.

Dark sighed happily. He was only a few hours away from Link now, and he couldn't help but feel a little giddy about seeing the hero.

Aryll and Komali were getting along great, it seemed, and Navi also found herself liking the large man. Dark hadn't learned very much about him, but finally, only about sixty minutes from the gates, he turned to face the Rito. "Tell me your story." Dark stated, and at first the bird man didn't understand.

Aryll nodded to him, and he smiled. "I am the chief and king of the Rito tribe. I come from Dragon Roost Island where we are protected by the great Dragon Valoo." He breathed deeply. "When a Rito child comes of age, he must travel to see Valoo, to receive a scale. Once he does, Valoo will grant him his wings."

Komali looked over his own wings, and smiled. "My son has recently come of age, and is preparing to go see him." He proudly beamed. "That is why we must complete your quest quickly, because I want to be home to see it."

"Do you think they'll put us back where we were before we left?" Aryll pondered, and Komali shook his head.

"No, I think that whatever time passes here will pass in our worlds, and that we will return to see the changes we missed."

"I sure hope not." Aryll thought, kicking the ground. "What if people start looking for us?"

Komali shrugged. "That will be a lost cause." He stared out over the horizon of the castle and smiled. "But even if I am not there, I know my son will make the journey to the top of Dragon Roost. I am very certain. He has much more courage than I had as a child, and _I_ made it up there."

"Is it a very big deal, then," Navi asked, "When a Rito gets his wings?"

"It is massive." Komali replied. "Especially for the heir to the throne. I only hope that he will listen to the words of his advisors, and go to see the dragon. When I was his age I lost my grandmother, and I didn't want to go see Valoo. I was afraid, because I was struck by the possibility of death. My greatest fear is that he comes to believe I have died."

….

Gannondorf stormed back and forth in the temple of time, pacing furiously. Occasionally he would throw a fearsome punch against the wall, stop to groan in anger, and then he would resume pacing. Link however, had a pretty sly smirk on his face.

"You are _lying_." Gannondorf growled. "You cannot know something like that."

"Oh, I'm not lying! I had a vision from the goddesses!" He smirked again. He had been excited when he first heard Dark say that they were going to save him, but when he remembered just how far away Lake Hylia was, it dawned on him that it could be a lot of time before they did. In that time, he wanted to do everything he could to remain _in_ the temple of time, and not Gannon's castle. "I'm sorry Gannondorf, but Nayru came to me in my sleep and told me that it would be a girl, and she would have no powers. She said that it would just be a normal, non magical, non-powerful, girl. A runt even. She would be sickly and have asthma and all kinds of skin conditions, and… um… allergies. To everything!"

Of course he had no idea what his baby would be, but with his tunic expanding as the days went on, it only made sense to Link to try and get Gannon to lose interest in the baby. The baby calendar was up to four and a quarter months, and his stomach was beginning to protrude more prominently from his body. At this point he was still pretty sure that he could pass himself off as just being fat, although he wasn't gaining much weight anywhere else, and get away with it.

Gannondorf stopped pacing very suddenly, and Link wondered what had just crossed the evil man's mind. The gerudo looked over at Link and smirked. "I feel you must think I'm stupid. Why would _Nayru_ come to tell you about your child, when _Farore_ is the goddess who created life? You are merely trying to protect that baby, aren't you? Protect it from me."

Before Link could answer, Gannon pushed the temporarily un-caged boy into the wall and pressed his body over him. Link felt like he was suffocating under the man, and tried to push him back, but Gannon grabbed his cheeks and pointed his face up to meet his. "Gannondork, what are you-!"

Oh goddess. He was going to barf. He was going to die. He was going to kill himself. He was going to change into a frog.

Link wasn't sure what the answer was going to be, but when he felt the chapped, sharp lips of Gannondorf against his own, he was sure one of the four would happen. He tried to push Gannon away, but he held his position. Link felt a very unhappy wave of anger rise up in him, and he used every bit of heroic strength he had to shove the man off of him.

"What in the _hell_ was that?" He shouted, spitting on the floor ferociously. Gannon only fell back a few steps, before he straightened and smiled.

Link was more intimidated by that smile than he was by the idea of having been kissed.

"I am certain you are lying." Gannondorf laughed. "And even if you weren't it does not matter. I will still take the child, and I will simply_ teach _it the ways of evil and magic. I am a gerudo, you realize. I can train anyone."

Link scowled. "The gerudo dropped you like a hot potato. You're just a man who looks like one."

Ignoring the comment, Gannon smiled evily. "I will prepare for you a room in the castle. You will then have two choices. You may agree to give me the child, and perhaps even be allowed to help raise it, and reign in evil with me, or you may stay here in the temple of time, while the first snow approaches and the stone will turn cold. Then you may die at the hands of your clone while I take your child either way."

Link stared at him, mouth flapping. Did he just ask Link to be his…_ evil queen_? He glared at him and crossed his arms, resting them on his developing belly.

"I just don't think you understand how strong I really am. I'll just defeat you, once I recover, and take the baby back."

Gannon laughed, and smirked. "You mean the worthless little girl you dreamed up? Why would you want her? She would be a useless heir for you too." He levitated Link once more, against the wall, and the hero tried to wriggle out of the magical hold.

He cupped his hands around Link's belly, his cold, armored hands, and Link growled. "Get off! Stop touching me!" He squirmed more, but the magical hold on him wouldn't budge.

"You must be lying to me, Link. If it was a weak, powerless child, explain to me this heat, radiating from you! Explain how you can feel it moving, how _I_ can feel it moving just by touching you, so early in this pregnancy. This is a much, _much_ stronger child than you seem to want me to believe."

Link had to admit, Gannon wasn't going to fall for any easy tricks. He felt his feet touch the ground again and Gannon leaned down to whisper in his ear. Just as before, Link felt constricted under the man's touch, and disgusted. Gannon said "You may want to reconsider your answer to my previous question, _pretty boy_."

With that he brought back up the cage and began to storm out. Link collapsed to his knees in anger and screamed in frustration, before climbing to his feet and calling after the man, who was barely still in the temple. "This is _my_ baby, Gannon! It will NEVER be yours, and I will protect it until the DAY I DIE!" After a few minutes of curses and shouts of anger, he leaned against the wall and stroked his stomach, feeling the various movements. He didn't know if he could really call them kicks or not, more like rotations.

Since he had started to feel it… Link had also started to reconsider giving the child to Dark Link. Before he was just angry, but since he had started to feel it develop, since it became so much a part of him that he could speak to it and it would move around in response, he had sort of come to… love it. Link felt _guilty_ for that, for wanting to keep her. Dark had said though, that he thought Link would want it, and perhaps he wouldn't mind. He leaned his head against the wall and thought about how to tell the demon that he couldn't give away the baby.

"_Link"_ he suddenly heard, and even though it was in his head, his ears perked up. _"Link, we're in the castle town, about twenty minutes from the temple of time. I have a plan, but you need to listen very carefully, okay…"_

…

The plan was simple. Dark first would sneak into the temple of time to free Link. He would break the magical cage with his own dark magic (magic that Gannon had made to rival his own), and then leave. Link would grab the Master Sword, just in case, and run from the temple, to meet up with Komali, who would fly him to Lon Lon ranch as soon as he was outside. While that was happening, Dark would enter Gannondorf's castle to "check in", and see what the evil man had in store. Aryll would be waiting for Dark outside, incase anything went wrong and she had to warp him, or his body, out of the castle, and Navi would fly as fast as she could back to Lon Lon Ranch, to give Malon, Talon, and Ingo a heads up about the plan.

What wasn't simple was what Dark would do if Gannon sealed him in another temple, to await a hero. But he shook that thought off and began to execute his idea.

He and Komali snuck up behind the Temple of time together, but when dark ran inside, Komali stayed well hidden in the shrubs beside it. Dark walked in and his eyes were quickly drawn to the yellow-light cage. He ran over quickly and Link stood up to see him.

Link felt embarrassed to see Dark, in a way. He was embarrassed about his stomach, its size, and if Dark would think he was getting fat. It was feelings like that which made Link want to hit himself. Only a woman would care that much about their weight. He never had before. In fact, before this baby thing he had hardly eaten at all. He shook away the thoughts though, because at his point his stomach was still hardly worth noticing, and he wanted to escape more than to hide.

Dark only needed a few seconds to break the cage, whispering the words of a curse, and then Link was freed.

The hero just stared at him for a moment, before a strange new feeling washed over Link and he threw his arms around Dark's neck. Dark was a little unsure for a moment, but he brought up his own arms around Link. They stayed like that for a few minutes, it seemed, and Dark held Link by the shoulders to face him.

"Are you going to be okay, getting the Master Sword?" Dark asked with a serious face. "If the power from it is going to hurt you, or the baby, you should just run now, and we'll get it later."

Link looked over at the pedestal that had been silently taunting him for weeks now. A smirk rose to his face, and he shook his head. "I can get it. I'll be fine."

Dark pulled him into a hasty hug, and while their bodies were pressed together Link felt the baby move. He wondered if Dark had felt it too, but the Shadow just said "Good luck, Hero," Before running out the doors. He had to get to Gannondorf _before_ one of the other monsters told him Link was missing, so it wouldn't make Gannon suspect Dark.

When the Demon was gone from sight, Link made his way over to the pedestal. It felt good to stretch his legs and now be somehow under a spell. He put his hands on the swords handle, and thought briefly about the consequences of taking it. What if it moved him forward in time again, to a time when he could fight Gannon? What if it took him to a time much after the baby was born, and was already stolen away? If it did, would he be able to recognize his own child?

He looked down at the blade and silently prayed that it wouldn't do something like that, and with a jerk, pulled it out of its stone. He closed his eyes held his breath.

He waited. Nothing. He peaked open an eye and with a breath of relief began to head for the door. A new thought popped into his head.

"_Dark, how will I know who Komali is?"_

"_You'll know him when you see him."_ Came Dark's answer, and so Link headed out the doors, only for a moment looking back.

Fresh air was something Link had missed in the past two months, and he was very happy to breathe it again. In a moment though, he heard the sound of a Stalfos Guard approaching the temple. He gasped, looking every which way for Komali, but had no idea what he was looking for.

The guard looked over and saw Link, suddenly charging at the hero, and Link gasped. Just as the Stalfos was closing in on Link, a man ran out from the bushes. With a start, Link felt something that felt like a hand grasp both of his shoulders, and he was in the air.

He gasped and looked up to see that he was being carried by a bird-man. That feeling on his shoulders must have been talons or something, because his arms were wings. He was about to struggle when the man looked down and said "I am King Komali, Link, and am here to take you to the Ranch."

That made Link relax a little, and as they flew away from Hyrule Castle, Link thought back to Dark. He certainly hoped he wouldn't be hurt by Gannondorf.

…

Dark casually strolled into the room that Gannon's throne was in and kneeled before him.

"Lord Gannon," He stated, "I have been searching for Zelda for weeks now, and only came to touch bases with you. I hoped you would tell me if there has been any change in your plans, or if perhaps _you_ have heard where Zelda might be."

Gannon stood and smiled at the shadow demon. "No, not yet." He smirked. Dark Link had always been his favorite creation, and not just because he could rival the strength of the Hero. Dark could rival _anyone's_ strength, or magic even. Gannon was sure that the demon had magic comparable to his own, and wondered if perhaps, with practice, he could train the demon to be better that Princess Zelda at the craft. He opened his mouth to speak again, but three Stalfos Knights burst into the room and shouted,

"Sire! The Hero has escaped!"

Gannon stood up in anger and blasted all three skeletons with magic, sealing their fates. They lay in a crumpled pile on the floor, and Dark bit his lip in fear.

"How could this happen!" Gannondorf shouted, quickly moving towards the window that overlooked the Temple of Time. "He was _trapped_!"

Before Dark could think, Gannon pointed at him with a shout. "You!"

"Y-yes, my lord?" Dark whispered

"Someone has been breaking the curses on the temples once more. It can't be Link, he was with me, and so I am changing your assignment. Instead of Zelda, I want you to find out who is doing this, and kill him. Do _not_ return to me until he is killed!"

Dark stood up and bowed quietly, crossing on hand over his chest. "Yes, Lord." With that he turned to exit.

"Oh, and Dark Link," Gannondorf added as the Demon was about to leave, "If you see the Hero in your quest, don't kill him."

"W-why, sire?" Dark asked, wondering how much Gannon knew about Link.

"I know it is your desire to kill Link, but he's going to have a baby, a baby that a wizrobe cursed him with. A baby born of any kind of magic is powerful, but one born of magic _and_ the Hero of Time? That child will be the most powerful creature alive when it's born."

Dark gulped, relatively agreeing with him. The baby probably _would_ be powerful.

"I'm going to raise it as my own." Gannon added. "So any assault to the Hero while he is pregnant or to the baby after will be considered punishable by death."

Dark turned to face Gannon with a mild gasp of shock. "Y-You're going to raise it, Lord?" He asked, eyes locking on the disgusting face of Gannondorf.

Gannon purred with delight. "I have always wanted an heir, and that is why it was rather unfortunate that Nabooru turned out to be a sage."

"I… I will try to restrain myself, Lord." Dark muttered before exiting the castle. Aryll pulled him around the side of the castle when she saw him come out, and to his surprise Komali was standing there, looking winded.

"Dark," Aryll said, "Komali is going to fly me back to the ranch, and then come back here for you. Okay?" She looked around urgently. Dark would be safe here, among monsters that saw him as an ally, but she would not. He nodded.

"It should only be a few minutes, Dark ," Komali panted, and took off with the Forest Sage.

A few minutes? Dark watched him disappear into the distance. Why didn't they travel everywhere by Rito? He looked calmly over the crater that was beginning to form around the castle. This is how it had formed that giant lava pit before—it started out as just a crack.

He thought about what Gannondorf had said about the baby. He wanted to raise it. The idea made Dark's stomach drop, and he tried to shake the it from his head. Surely, if the baby was Dark's, it would have some notable similarities with him, at least a few features, and Gannon would know pretty quick that it wasn't a Wizrobe at all.

A Wizrobe. Dark smiled at that, because it was pretty ingenious. Link had obviously been trying to keep Dark safe, and said the first magical thing that came to mind. Dark sometimes did wonder how much magic a wizrobe could use, but he never thought about one creating a life.

Then again, he didn't know that _he_ could create a life. Magically, that was.

He let his thoughts wonder to Aryll, who had become so much more cheerful since she found someone from her homeland. Dark wished deeply to be able to see the world through her eyes, and perhaps see her world.

Dark stared at the ground. What was _with_ this affinity for Aryll? She was totally distracting Dark from the real goal here, which was that baby, and maybe even Link. He thought back to that hug in the Temple of Time and smiled a little. Link had hugged _him_. At least the first time, and that was exciting.

He watched the sky and waited for the Rito man to come back into sight. He wondered if Komali had ever done anything this great before? He had to be the chief for _something_ right? Maybe it was a title that was just handed to him on a platter, through his father, and his grandfather. Or maybe Komali had done something to really prove his worth.

Komali landed, panting heavily, in front of Dark while he was in his thoughts, and then gasped out, "Dark…we must go…. Now." Before scooping him up into the air with him.

….

Seeing how tired Komali was after he carried the three of them back to the ranch was evidence as to why they didn't travel everywhere by Rito. It was a great deal faster, but the man had hardly even made it to the ranch before he collapsed to the ground and practically dragged himself to the nearest bed.

Aryll and Malon were very similar people, it seemed, because both of them were hurrying around bringing water and milk to the three men in the group, and talking about blankets and beds.

There were only four bedrooms in the ranch house. One for Malon, Talon, and Ingo, and one spare, the one that Link had been in a few months before. The only other places to sleep were on the spare straw mattresses, which we in the barn loft. That's where Dark was, currently, making the hay beds with some blankets and feather pillows.

Malon said that her father and Ingo had to run to Kakariko to make some deliveries, and they wouldn't be back for a while, or probably even that night, so it was mostly up to Dark to make the beds this time.

After a few minutes in the silence of the loft, Dark heard someone coming up the ladder to meet him. He looked over to see his blonde counterpart and frowned. "You're sleeping in the _bed_, remember? What are you doing in here?"

Link just kind of looked at him for a while, taking in the sight that was Dark making a bed. He smiled. "I'm just here to help, but it looks like you're mostly done." He leaned himself against one of the support beams and looked down at the shadow that was finishing his job. "Uh," He started, "Thank you… for earlier."

Link had been the first to arrive to the ranch, and so had time to do all the things that he had severely missed since being taken by Gannon: breathe fresh air, take a bath, wear clean clothes, and eat food that wasn't slop. Now that he was in a better all-around mood, he had time to chat with his shadow.

"You're welcome." Dark said, sitting on the corner of a mattress.

"So," Link started, pushing himself off the beam and wandering over to the only window in the loft, "The sages have asked you to save them?"

"Well, their first choice was out of commission, you see," Dark smiled, but Link just scoffed.

"You know, being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be. There are things you don't forget, scars that never heal." He looked back to see Dark looking a little concerned. "There are enemies that never go away."

Dark didn't know if that comment was directed at him, or at Gannon, but he was pretty taken back by it. "I'm not trying to be a Hero, Link. I was just doing what I was told to do."

The demon couldn't decide if Link was mad at him or not. The hero kept indirectly implying it, but what had Dark done, but save him? He lay back on the makeshift bed and stared at the ceiling.

"I just don't want you to have to deal with all the stuff I did." Link whispered. "It's hard, and it's scary, and sometimes your biggest fears are what you end up walking right into."

Dark thought back to the room with the spiders, and how they were all jumping on him and how he kept running into webs. He shivered just thinking about it.

"I would face those fears for you." Dark whispered, half hoping it wasn't loud enough to be heard. Link's ears twitched and he turned around, smiling at him.

"Just don't get hurt. I'm pretty sure you said you were going to protect me, and you can't very-well do that if you're dead." He walked over and situated himself on the mattress with Dark. The demon smiled and sat up, making room for him to sit.

"Why did you really come up here?" He asked, looking into the Hero's eyes.

Suddenly something interesting happened. The same way Dark was absorbed into Aryll's eyes, he was stuck on Link's. He was drawn into them, not even listening to what the answer was, and wondering why this was happening.

Maybe it was something about blue eyes? Maybe those shades of blue even? But he was lost in his gaze until finally shoved back his shoulder.

"What are you staring at?" Link asked, whilst knocking back his arm.

Dark didn't know how to honestly respond to that without sounding stupid, so he chose to ignore the question.

"Anyway," Link continued, "I don't know what I'm going to do with this whole Master Sword business. When I used it before, I could totally feel its power running through me, but when I held it a while ago I couldn't even believe it _was_ the Master Sword. It just felt like a normal sword."

"Maybe it's lost its ability to repel evil?" Dark asked, thinking once again to the fact that he lacked that ability too.

Not that Dark was even sure he could _use_ a weapon designed to repel evil. After all, he was a demon, and most demons were considered evil. But when he thought back to that monster in the water temple, and how he had to resort to wailing on it with an arrow head, he knew something had to change.

Link rested his head on Dark's shoulder, only a little higher than his own, and stared at the wall of the loft. Dark raised an eyebrow, but smiled. He didn't mind if the hero was going to be comfortable with him.

"Gannondorf said he wanted to take the baby." Link whispered. "I think… he'll probably be looking for me. I can't stay here at the ranch." He felt comfort in the way Dark had draped his arm around him, not really _holding _him, but able to if he wanted. "And…" He looked into the Demon's eyes and thought about the baby again. "I think I...Ugh!" He jerked himself away from Dark and considered leaving.

He didn't want to tell the Dark he was keeping the baby. He wanted Dark to stay by his side, to be his friend, to… well, he wasn't sure what else he wanted yet, but he wanted it.

Dark smirked, reaching over and tilting the Hero's face towards him with his finger. Link thought about how this felt, soft, caring, as opposed to how it felt when Gannon had practically dislocated his jaw.

"It is your baby." Dark smiled, "You don't have to be afraid of me leaving."

"How did you…?"

Dark smiled and answered, "I can still see into your mind, remember?"

Link thought about the many disadvantages of this link with Dark. "Are you," Link thought about the right word, "Upset?"

Dark shrugged. "I was excited to be part of a family, but just because you keep it doesn't mean that I can't. I can still meet it right? Come see it, spend time with it?"

Link didn't see why not. He had come to see Dark Link as a friend. So he nodded, feeling a little pink blush rise into his cheeks when he met eyes with the demon. Dark Link's ruby eyes were glazed over with a sort of… desire.

A desire that didn't really make Link feel uncomfortable, at this point.

"May I feel?" Dark asked shyly, indicating to the hero's belly. Link shrugged his shoulders and nodded. It was another case of why not. But shortly after the demon's tan hand touched the hero's shirt, some kind of animal instinct took over the hero, and he felt a mysterious feeling gathering in his mind.

He hoped a little bit that Dark couldn't see his entire mind, see the feelings he was starting to have. Was it involuntary, or did Dark have to _try_ to read Link's mind?

Dark looked down into Link's sky blue eyes again and smiled weakly. In their own, half lidded state, his eyes looked different. Much more sensual.

He gently tugged at the back of Link's head, to nudge him forward, but to also achieve some kind of permission to do so. When the hero agreed and leaned closer, Dark rested his lips on Links.

It was so much different than what Link had felt with Gannon. Instead of fearing for his life, Link felt limp in a much better way. He felt safe, and he felt… loved; Cared for in a way that he hadn't felt before.

Dark moved a little to the side and gently pushed Link's head down onto the pillow. He never broke that kiss, full of passion, and held himself up on his hands and knees above Link, so to carefully avoid his stomach.

Link reached up and tangled his hands into the demon's hair, trying to force their faces closer if it could happen. As their tongues fought for dominance and their hands brushed over one another's bodies, it was almost painful.

And then the creak of the ladder signaled to them that someone was coming up to the loft. Link had shoved Dark off of him faster than he had Gannon, and sat up as quick as he could, straightening his clothes and hair as if they had done something more than kiss.

Dark smiled over at him, not phased at all, and sat on the edge of the bed, awaiting their visitor.

Aryll peaked her head up through the floor and smiled at them "Dinner is ready, guys,"

"Thanks." Dark replied, standing up and making like he was going to help Link. "We'll be down in a minute."

The blonde girl raised an eyebrow at the deep red blush on Link's face, but climbed down the ladder and left anyway.

As Dark pulled Link to his feet, and the Hero stumbled into his arms, He felt the demon embrace him tightly, and his blush intensified.

What _was_ that? He would have blamed it on some kind of crazy accident at first, but after thinking back to it, he only did things that he wanted. He _wanted_ to make out with Dark. He felt Dark trace a finger down his back, and he smiled a little to himself. Who knew?

With a kiss on his forehead Dark whispered, "Maybe I'll get to be a bigger part of this family than I thought?" and began down the ladder.

Link thought about that while he followed him. What did that mean? And with a sigh Link came to the conclusion that he had been indirectly proposed to twice in one day.

…

_No new sage in this chapter, sorry guys. This was just me trying to move Link and Dark's relationship along. I think it worked. :D_

_Actually I know that was moving kind of quick, but I always believed in the term Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and so I'm not backing down. Please don't send me a review that says "They wouldn't make out like that," unless you plan on sending one to every one shot yaoi there is._

_But if you would like to mention something else, please review. _


	7. Hero of Time vs The Fire Temple

_I've uploaded a few of my own pictures to help give you guys an idea of appearances in this story. Unfortunately my scanner is broken, so they're photographs of my paper. D: You'll have to take the spaces out of the links, since FF has it's no link law._

_Anyway here they are:_

_Link x Dark:_ _ bubbles-on-helium . deviantart . com/#/d31ihjp_

_Aryll and Komali: bubbles-on-helium . deviantart . com/#/d31ikgq … This one has a spoil in it, but I'm busting it out in this chapter, so no worries. The spoil being the title of it on DA…_

_Link and the 6 Medallions: bubbles-on-helium . deviantart . com/#/d31ift4_

_Link and Dark: (GIANT-ASS SPOILER ALERT)…Yeah, actually this one is a little bit of a poster for the sequel, so unless you've already read this through the first time and know the gender of the baby, then you probably shouldn't look. … Unless you just don't mind spoilers, but I'm giving you fair warning, so don't get angry later. It does actually have a little bit of a spoiler for this one in it, but not so big of one to ruin your lives or anything, and I don't think most of you will really notice. :D Besides, I'm busting out that spoil in this chapter, so BOOYAH. ….. bubbles-on-helium . deviantart . com/#/d31iiam_

_If those Links end up not showing up right then just go to Bubbles-on-helium on to find them._

_Mystical Gems: I'm going to find out where you sleep at night. And you didn't say anything wrong, the stuff in the last notes was just in general. I don't mind critiques I just don't want flames. You're going to like those pictures up there (if you look). Did you read the original? If not then DON'T LOOK AT THE LAST ONE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SPOILED. XD_

…_._

Link reached up and wiped away the small beads of sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. Looking up into the sky he saw that the sun was starting to fall. Almost time to camp. He breathed a defeated sigh of relief, rubbing his arms. Was it possible to be hot and cold at the same time? The air was crisp and had a chill to it, but he was sweating from the walk.

Link wasn't really one to complain about things he liked, but walking was just not _easy_ for him right now. It had only been a week since they left Lon Lon Ranch, and he had been quiet for the most of it. He walked, tall and proud, next to Aryll most of the time.

He stayed in the back of the pack, heading up the rear so Dark didn't have the opportunity to see him. It was a good thing the Demon didn't question it too, because there were times when Link embarrassed himself with his weird stretches or cramps.

Link had confided in Aryll right away, because he felt a mysterious connection to her. He walked with her, occasionally holding her hand to disguise the fact that he was tired, and really using her for support. He told her only after about an hour of walking the first day that he thought he was going to die. Link smiled when he thought back on that conversation.

_Link had been in the back, alone, when he got hit with the first cramp. It was up his whole leg, a cramp that he had never experienced before, and he felt light headed. Quickly he looked around, and when he saw his only option was to fall down if he didn't get help, he called out._

"_Psst! Aryll!" He whisper-shouted, and the sandy-blonde turned her head quickly._

"_Link!" She gasped and ran back to him. It was a pretty good gap between him and the group, and she hadn't even noticed that they were leaving him behind. "Oh, gods, are you okay?" _

_He held his stomach for a minute and supported himself on her shoulder for what seemed like forever. Aryll noticed the group getting farther away. _

"_Aryll, I can't do this right now…" He breathed in deeply and slowly, fighting to breath out through his nose. "Please… stay here with me. I'll tell Dark that I got distracted or something."_

_Aryll bit her lip before narrowing her eyes in what must have been a brilliant idea. She quickly shifted their positions so that while Link was still leaning on her, she was posed like she was leaning on him. Link raised an eyebrow at her, starting to regain composure as the cramp passed, and she shouted._

"_DARK!" She called. The demon turned around. "Dark! I hurt my ankle! You guys go ahead, and Link will stay with me!"_

_Komali and Dark met eyes before jogging back._

_The Rito looked at them and shook his head at her. He knew she was lying, he could tell by their pose, but apparently Dark couldn't._

"_We're not going ahead without you." Dark rolled his eyes. "We'll just set up camp for the day."_

_When they left to set up camp, Link stared wide eyed into Aryll's and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much." He whispered. _

_She just smiled. "Any time."_

Now, six days later, she was still the only one who knew he could hardly stand walking for an hour, let alone a whole day. She stayed close to him, just in case he fell, so she could reach out and grab him.

When they made camp on the seventh night, Link dropped himself onto the grass, a little damp with dew, and just waited. He wasn't going to help gather firewood, or rocks, or set up the tents that they had acquired from Talon. He was just going to lay there.

Aryll sat next to him and gently stroked his bangs, and he looked up at her with a weak laugh. "You must think this is funny," He tilted his head back into the grass and stared at the stars that were beginning to peak out. "Funny for the hero of time to be so worn out after just _walking_. It's not fair you know, It's the baby's fault and…"

Aryll pulled him up so he was sitting, facing her, and smiled warmly at him. "I don't think it's funny. I think you should tell Dark." She replied, taking his hand. "He would be devastated if you over worked yourself and lost the baby, and he's already a little bit jealous that you're walking with me."

Link raised an eyebrow at her, and hoped that emotion would hide his blush. "W-why would he be jealous? I think he just wants to spend time with… with you, that's it."

Aryll giggled and pulled a piece of grass from Link's hair. "No, silly. He wants to be with you. Komali and I both know. He mentioned it first, saying he thought you two were playing love-gaze-tag. How funny is that? He said that's what his son always called it when he and his wife would stare at each other back and forth." She stopped to giggle again. "Anyway, I _had_ to tell him what I saw when I went to get you two for dinner."

"You _saw_ that?" Link gasped, suddenly trying to melt into nothing. "How?" he could literally _feel_ himself blushing.

"You can see the loft from the entrance to the barn, silly. You just didn't notice me till I was all the way over to the ladder." She smiled. "Anyway, I just… I know you're too stubborn to tell Dark that you're tired, so I wanted to give you something."

She pulled her necklace over her head and placed it over Link's. He held the black seagull charm in his hand and looked back to her in confusion. Upon closer inspection the bird had a microscopic emerald for an eye.

"This necklace has been passed down in my family for years, Link. My brother said it was a symbol of the courage that our family is known for. It was my brothers, my dad's, my grandma's and I think even my great grandpa's. I want you to have it, so you'll feel courageous too." She explained.

Link smiled and gave Aryll a quick hug. "Thank you." He looked up at the stars and sighed. "Maybe I should tell Dark." He muttered, but Aryll had already left to help pitch tents.

Link played with some of the grass on the ground and sighed. Maybe he would find the courage to ask Dark to slow down… but how would he find the courage to tell them he couldn't stand up off the ground on his own anymore? He looked down and rubbed his four and a half month round tummy and decided the ground was comfortable for now.

It wasn't comfortable for long though. Link looked over at the group occasionally and finally resorted to staring into the distance and fighting tears. He couldn't do it. He was the _Hero of Time!_ What kind of hero couldn't even stand up!

Dark didn't know what to think when he looked at Link. The fire had been going for over an hour, Aryll was almost through making dinner, and the hero hadn't budged from his position. At first he thought he had just wanted to be alone, but after all this time he was worried. He finally got up the courage and walked over to the blonde man. "What are you doing here Hero? Are you upset?"

Link looked away, not speaking to Dark. This was just too embarrassing.

The demon's heart broke a little. He immediately knelt down on his knees and pulled Link's face to meet his. When he saw tears running down his cheeks, he gasped.

"Link! Is something wrong, are you okay?" He pulled the hero into a brief hug and then searched his eyes. "Please? I'll just find out on my own if you don't tell me."

Link scoffed and wiped one of his eyes. "I'm fine Dark. I just… Goddess, I'm too proud." He stared at an interesting weed and continued. "I always have taken care of myself, you know? It's hard for me to have to ask for help, and I don't like feeling weak."

He looked at the Demon, done crying but eyes still red, and tilted his head. "You still get to have all your energy, all your power, and the baby is still part yours. How is that fair? Why should I do all the work?"

Dark sat down crossed legged next to him and shrugged. "I don't know, Link." He rubbed his hand along the hero's back.

"Can we walk a little slower? I know that it should only take two weeks to get to Kakariko, but I can't keep going this fast. That or you guys can go ahead and I'll just go at my own pace. I'm just…" He sighed. He was going to cry again. It was crazy. It was like instead of cravings, instead of gaining a ton of weight (because he really was remarkably thin everywhere but his abdomen), the baby just played with his emotions and his strength. Strength had never been an issue for Link before. He'd always had just enough. Now he didn't.

"You just what, Link?" Dark asked, scooting closer to Link.

Link took a slow breath and finally came clean. "It hurts Dark. I'm getting cramps, sometimes so bad I have to stop. Usually Aryll has just lied to cover for me, like when she said she twisted her ankle, and yesterday when she felt really sick to her stomach." Link looked away. "She didn't even eat, and all because I was too afraid to tell you."

Dark was a little offended, if that made any sense. "Has this pain been _baby_ related?"

"A little but I promise to tell you from now on, I just… I can't believe how much I've changed."

Dark smiled and nodded. "Of course we can go slower. I don't want you to get hurt." He sort of trailed off before asking, "Link, do you _like_ Aryll?"

He felt stupid for accusing the blonde of having crush on her, because he in fact had been lost in her eyes a hundred times. But Link didn't look lost in her eyes, he just looked happy.

Link laughed, an emotional wreck, and shook his head. "I like her fine, but not the way you're asking." Came his answer.

Dark breathed a sigh of relief, and then moved closer to the Hero. "Do you like _me_?"

Link was a little taken aback, and then blushed ferociously. "I, uh," He stuttered and looked away again. "I'm kind of confused about it, you know?"

Dark shook his head. He didn't know. He wasn't confused about liking Link. He was only confused by Aryll's eyes. He wasn't attracted to her otherwise, at least not seriously. "Why are you confused?"

"This is all so crazy Dark! I mean, we were kissing, and it was great, I really liked it and all, but… I mean, you're a guy, and I'm a guy, and that shouldn't sound weird because I'm pregnant and all, but it just is. I just don't know what to do. I never thought about this before, I never have had a serious relationship, I never have had a… kiss…"

Link trailed off while he remembered Gannondorf's nasty lip lock in the Temple of Time. With a tug of regret, Link realized that he had forever lost his first kiss to Gannon.

"Dark, Gannondorf kissed me." He said, knowing that the demon would find out why he stopped anyway, "I mean, it was awful. I didn't like it, not like when we kissed, but I just…"

Dark frowned. Man, Link was right, that did sound awful. He thought back to when the man had almost embraced him, and he was sickened by that. He touched Link's cheek.

Aquamarine met Ruby in the meeting of their eyes, and Dark smiled at his little hero. "You're worried that he stole your first kiss?" He half asked, half stated. Link didn't have to nod. Dark pushed the hero back and leaned over him, holding his lips just centimeters from Link's and grinned evilly. "kiss me."

Link blinked in surprise, turning slightly pink. "W-what?"

Dark moved in closer and brushed his lips against the hero's with a sly smile. "It really isn't _your_ first kiss unless you initiate it. That means you haven't even _had_ a first kiss yet. Now please, give me the honor of receiving that first kiss."

Link smiled. The womanly side of him that he hated told him that was probably the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for him. He reached up and planted a soft, light kiss on the demon's lips.

Dark rested his forehead on Link's before diving in for one more kiss, this one a little more passionate. When he moved away from the hero, he asked, "Is that why you were crying?"

Link's eyes widened and he blushed again, watching Dark as he began to stand. What a show off. He breathed in really deep and quickly said "I can't get up."

Dark laughed and reached out his hands for Link to take.

"Why are you laughing at me? It's not my fault!" The blonde waivered a little before he finally landed in his center of gravity on his feet and buried his head in the demon's neck. "It's not my fault."

Dark took his hand and started to walk with him back to the tents. "It's just so funny that you were more upset about that than about being in pain." He smirked. Link really was proud.

"Dark, it's not funny." Link said, stopping.

"No, Link I didn't mean it like that, it's just that you looked so silly, crying about…" He didn't have to keep going. Link was glaring at him ferociously and it didn't take long for the Hero to make it clear he was done.

"I can't even believe you." He growled, storming over to the camp and grabbing his own personal bag. It only had a few things in it, a canteen of water and some rupees, but it was just the matter of the situation. He reached in and dug out a pink ocarina.

The fairy ocarina that he had received from Saria was her personal gift to him. He fumbled with it for a minute before the Demon dashed over and ripped it from his hands.

Komali and Aryll looked at each other and exchanged worried glances.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dark shouted, holding the ocarina out of his reach.

Link reached for it a few times and growled. "Why the hell is my shadow taller than me?" He shouted, jumping.

"What is the matter with you? I just misspoke I didn't meant to make you angry!" Dark yelled back. "Just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you have the god-given right to act like a little girl!"

He knew that was the wrong thing to say before it was finished. The way the hero's eyes flashed red like that, he wondered if he would ever be able to take it back.

He was about to try to apologize when Aryll shrieked. "Dark!"

The demon snapped out of his mini-trance just in time to see Link pull out the Master Sword and point it at him in anger.

"L-Link, you shouldn't do that, it's probably bad for the baby."

"Oh, yeah," He growled, "And you wouldn't want me to hurt the _baby_ right? I told you NOT to call me girly, or even think it. I can't be-fucking-lieve you." He thrusted the shining blade towards Dark a little. "Give me the damn ocarina."

Dark lowered his arm a little, but didn't hand it over. A little piece of him felt overwhelmed, maybe by the fight in Link's eyes, and maybe by the evil inside him, but he pulled his lips into a smirk and laughed.

"What are you going to do? Hurt me with a sword that lost it's power?"

Link narrowed his eyes, moving quickly so that the sword was at Dark's throat. "You wanna _test_ that?"

Komali stood up and moved towards them slowly. "You two shouldn't fight like this, you're friends."

Dark felt a rush of anger run over him and pushed Link off of him. The hero snatched his ocarina and lowered his sword, frustrated.

Dark watched with angry eyes as the hero played Epona's Song, and the horse came running from the distance.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Away." Link growled.

"Link!" Aryll whined. "Please? Just tell us, that way we know you're safe."

Link strapped the Master Sword over his shoulder and slung the strap to the pack over his head.

"You're being _very_ immature, Link." Dark groaned.

"Yeah? What are you gonna do about it? Are you going to tell Gannondorf on me? Run to your daddy?"

Looking back on it, Dark probably shouldn't have done what he did, but he was so enraged by that statement that he couldn't help it. He wound up his arm and gave the hero a swift punch in the face.

"DARK!" Aryll gasped, running to Link.

Link fell back into Epona and gasped, reaching up to touch his throbbing cheek. Once again his eyes flashed red, and he, instead of crying, just got more enraged. He tackled Dark into the tree they had camped under, and in a moment that made him flash back to when he had first fought Dark.

"DO YOU THINK YOU CAN _DO _THAT TO ME?" He screamed. "DO YOU THINK I'LL JUST SIT HERE AND TAKE IT?" He held Dark by the scruff of his tunic and hit his head against the tree.

Dark didn't lose his glare.

"I'm not your toy, Dark. I'm not your toy, and I'm not your _friend_. I will not just sit here and—!" He stopped for a second and put a hand against the side of his stomach. That _hurt_.

And in the split second that Link stuttered, Dark felt his anger melt away. Link was in _pain._

Link shook his head. "I-I will not just sit here and let you treat me like your freaking _baby maker_."

Dark rolled his eyes.

Link pushed him again and screamed. "JUST GO BACK TO BEING A DEMON LIKE YOU WERE MEANT TO BE! NO ONE NEEDS YOU!" With another twinge of pain, and maybe a little guilt, the blonde climbed onto Epona and disappeared into the night.

Komali ran to Dark and grabbed his shoulders. "What were you thinking, hitting him like that?"

Aryll stared after Link. "Dark," she started, "I think you need to make this right."

"I hurt the baby." Dark whispered.

"What?" Komali asked, and Aryll looked a little frightened.

"He was holding his stomach like he was in pain." Dark's eyes widened. "Damn I'm stupid!" He grabbed Komali's shirt collar. "Go! Follow him! Make sure he's okay!" he practically pushed the Rito into the air.

Komali obliged without argument, and Aryll watched them fly off.

"What did you think you were doing, Dark?" She asked, kneeling down pick up a feather that feel from Komali's wing. "It doesn't matter if he's acting immature, he's going through a lot right now."

"So am I!" Dark groaned. "I mean, I had to reach into a box of spiders!"

"Dark," Aryll put a hand on his shoulder, "Link saved the world only to find out that he was pregnant. He hunted you down to involve you and he was kidnapped. An evil lord told him that he wanted to steal his baby, and now the man that he's put all of his trust in is _hitting_ him! You have to understand that he's not as strong as he used to be right now."

Dark leaned his head back against the tree. "I know… I'm just… I'm stupid." He looked into the distance, unable to see either Komali or Link. "I just… He made me so mad…"

Aryll crossed her arms. "I think you pissed him off too."

…..

With no word from Komali or Link, Dark, Aryll, and Navi continued on to Death Mountain. They got there in record time, it seemed, without having to stop early for Link. Dark felt more miserable with every passing moment, but when they arrived at the entrance of the temple, he couldn't take it.

"_Link, I'm sorry. I know you can hear me, please don't ignore me."_

"…"

"_Link, I don't know what I would do with myself if you left me forever. I lo-… I'm sorry."_

"_D-Dark…" _

"_Link?"_

"_H-help… help me…"_

"DARK!" Komali called, flying down from inside the volcano.

"Komali, what were you doing in the fire temple?"

"Dark," Komali gasped, falling to the ground. Aryll held him by his shoulders, not sure if the Rito would collapse. "L-Link went in there."

"He what?"

"He wanted to prove he was still… Still just as strong as you. He said that he didn't care what I did, he would still go, so I followed him to try to keep him safe. Dark, he—DARK!" He shouted, but Dark ran ahead of them and into the temple.

Navi only looked back once, but flew on ahead with him.

….

Dark dashed through the doors of the temple, only getting mysterious looks from the various monsters. He was sweating before he knew it, the heat of the volcano wearing on him. He could only imagine what was going through Link's mind.

"_Link, where are you?"_

"_unggh"_

"_Link, please, help me find you!"_

…

Aryll held Komali's hand tightly as they entered the temple. "Do you know where we are?" She asked as he led her through dark caverns.

"Maybe." He muttered. "This whole mountain feels … familiar."

Aryll looked over it. "Do you think this is what became your home?" She looked around. "Yuck."

Komali shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'm questioning everything now." He opened a door and peeked inside before going through. "Hyrule is such a beautiful place, I never imagined I would fall in love with it so fast. It's vast, the forests are beautiful, and the whole field smells like grass. It's amazing."

The blonde nodded. "I know. I don't know how much we would have ever survived though, without the ocean."

Komali agreed. "We Rito wouldn't exist."

As they made their way through the winding walls and corridors, the forest sage shivered. "Tell me about your wife."

Komali smiled at Aryll. "She was beautiful."

Aryll raised an eyebrow. "Was?"

"She passed away when our son was very young." He smiled when he added, "But she never gave up. Fought till the end."

"Oh my goodness!" Aryll cried. "What happened?"

"She was very ill." He looked down at the lantern in his hand. "With a sickness we couldn't cure on our island. We had never had it before, and so I sent out men to every island in search of the cure. I even sent people to her old home."

"She didn't live on your island?"

"She—…" He looked down in embarrassment. "She was human."

Aryll tilted her head to the side a little. "Is that… normal?"

"No." Komali laughed. "But I didn't care. It was like a dramatic play of old times, we were star crossed, and there was nothing we could do about it." He kicked a rock on the floor. "It was rough, at first. My father didn't approve, her family was confused, and one member of it even slightly offended. It wasn't until I threatened to step down from the title of prince that my father granted his approval, and he was still sour about it. Her family only gave in after she convinced them it wasn't a joke. But we were married when we were both young, she was only seventeen and I was twenty, and she became my Princess."

Aryll grinned, noticing some keese sleeping in the distance. "Sounds romantic."

"It was." He smiled and gripped her hand tighter. Aryll looked down at it and blushed a little bit before looking up to meet his cherry gaze. "It's slick here, watch your step." He explained.

Aryll nodded and carefully stepped into the next door. Luckily for them, Link had taken out most of the monsters before they entered, and whatever he missed Dark must have gotten at the last minute in his mad dash after the Hero.

She followed closely to the Rito, and continued her investigation into Komali's life. "So, what was her name?"

He closed his eyes for a minute before answering. "Lyra." He grinned at Aryll before pointing. "That looks like a light up ahead, I bet that's where Dark and Link are."

"Lyra. Like the musical instrument?"

Komali laughed for a few minutes. "Yes."

"So, were you there?"

"Where?"

"when she died, I mean. I'm sorry if that's personal or something, but… Were you with her?"

The Rito sighed. That was _very_ personal. "Yes, of course. It was heartbreaking, she was so young, and it devastated our boy. She had been bedridden for days before it happened, and I was actually about to fly out myself when she called me. She made me stay with her through the night, and she was gone in the morning."

Aryll sighed. "That's rough."

"Her family was worse. They were so upset by it that they disowned the Rito Tribe."

"What was her family like-!" She gasped when she heard a shout of pain erupt through the cavern ahead of them.

"That sounded like Dark." Komali stated, running ahead. Aryll let go of his hand and ran slowly behind him. She felt awful for Komali, terribly. What a sad story about his wife! She shook her head and followed him into the cavern.

She almost couldn't believe her eyes. Dark's clothes were practically burnt off of him, and Link was just a crumpled heap on the floor. Komali was leaning over the Hero, tending to him, and the monster was the biggest thing Aryll had ever seen. It was a huge man made of stone, but he was shooting flames out of every finger he had.

Dark had successfully been shooting him with Arrows, and it seemed effective. In fact, after only a few more the man was vanquished, but Dark couldn't have cared less, he didn't even take the time to put away the bow.

He dropped it and ran to Link.

Komali moved back as the demon scooped up Link into his arms, holding him close.

Aryll dropped to her knees next to Komali and looked around. Navi flew over sadly and looked back at Link.

"Is he okay?" Aryll squeaked.

"I think," Navi frowned, "But I'm scared, he's not breathing very much."

"Dark will save him." Komali smiled.

Dark stared down at the hero's half-closed eyes and honestly didn't know what to do. He stroked a strand of sandy hair from Link's face and reached down to touch his stomach. It was still burning hot. He breathed a sigh of relief and gently tapped Link's cheek to wake him.

Link only woke up part way, sort of sleeping. Dark looked over at Aryll and asked "Do we have any red potion?"

She nodded and gave him the bottle. "Dark… You need to save some of that for you. You're burnt all over."

He didn't listen. He tilted up Link's chin and slowly poured the bottle down his throat.

It only took a minute for Link's cheeks to regain most of their color, and his eyes flew open. He sat up, got dizzy, leaned against Dark, and then started to pat himself down. Hair, nose, hands, body… He was okay.

He looked up and Dark and gasped out, "Dark, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have left, I—oh!" Dark caught Link in a deep kiss, pulling him up as close to him as possible before wrapping his arms around him and just… sobbing.

Link looked at the demon with a pair of wide, blue eyes, and Dark shook his head. "I'm sorry." He choked out, "You're not a whiney little girl, you're not immature, and you're absolutely the strongest person I know."

Link smiled and kissed Dark's shoulder. "You… You're all burnt up." He whispered. Dark shook his head. "I'll get another potion when we get back to Kakariko."

"Link," Komali smiled. "If you're feeling up to it, there is a sage awaiting Dark Link just through that portal."

Link blushed a few shades of pink, and looked at Dark. "I still need help to stand up…"

Dark scooped Link up like he was some sort of princess and smiled at him. "Who needs to stand? It's overrated." He grinned and reached down only long enough to pocket the heart container. "Everyone ready?" he asked, and they all stepped into the portal in unison.

…..

It was a strange machine that Dark had never seen before. It was like some sort of box on wheels, but instead of wooden carts it was made of metal. There were strange pipes everywhere and levers and buttons that none of them understood.

Link was still in Dark's arms when they arrived, but promptly decided to squirm out. Dark smiled but was marveling at the machine. He wandered over to the balcony, where the sage stood, and looked over. Part of him thought the most exciting part of these rooms was seeing the world the sage came from. He looked over it and gasped. Everything was different. The houses were made of something he hadn't ever seen. The land was covered in roads made of bricks, and for some reason, there were metal things all over, like the one behind him.

He had absolutely no idea what it was. And so he did the only logical thing to do.

"Hey fire sage, what the hell are those?"

The man looked down and chuckled. "What are what?" He asked in his booming deep voice.

Aryll and Komali were in the back, marveling at the machine.

Dark pointed behind him, to them, and the man grinned. "They are trains." He answered. "They transport people across the land. It only takes a few hours to cross all of the continent, and everything from people to produce can be delivered without hassle."

It just didn't make sense to Dark. They moved? He could see a door-type thing on it, but it didn't look like the kind of door he had seen before.

"Don't worry about it." The man smiled. He was taller than Dark, taller than Komali even, and very well built. The man could probably _lift_ the train he was so buff. He had a red rag tied around his head and a full-body suit on. He wore gloves and boots, and had a white, dingy rag in his back pocket. He put out his hand. "I am Alfonzo, royal engineer and temporary sage of Fire."

Dark nodded. "So… are we restoring _fire_ to Hyrule?"

He laughed in a deep, booming way, and shook his head. "We will regulate temperature to the way it should be." He pulled from his pocket the red fire medallion and passed it to Dark. As could be expected it unleashed its energy across Hyrule.

Dark looked over to Link and caught the Hero smiling at him. He nodded towards the sage and grinned. _"You did it. You're really becoming a Hero, Dark."_

"_I'll always be a demon."_

"_But you'll be your own person." _Link shrugged his shoulders, getting questioning looks from everyone not involved in the telepathy. _"And no one, not even Gannondorf, can take that away. You're my hero. What can I say? You're just awesome."_

…

_Alfonzo is from Spirit Tracks. I'm sorry for the lack of description of him, but there's not much to describe. XD So just google him. If you don't feel like that, and you've played Wind Waker, just imagine Gonzo from that and make him more advanced and clean looking. Alfonzo is a descendant of him._

_That actually means that Alfonzo is from way WAY in the future compared to Aryll and Komali who are just _kind_ of in the future. _

_Did you like that peek into Komali's life? There will be a lot of interesting things you learn about the group. R&R_


	8. Astrid and Aveil

_Chapter 8 already, this is updating pretty quick. I hope you guys liked the pictures, and the chapters too. :D I'm so excited for the end of this story coming up, and even starting the sequel. MAN it's good. I have like four drafts of the ending. XD._

_Anyway, here is chapter 8. I want to warn you guys there are TWO temples in this one, so it's going to seem rather rushed. I apologize, but I just… Am sick about writing temples. XD I want to get that over with, so I can write about all the characters in them, and all the twists and secrets and magic stuff I can do. :D_

_Oh, and next time you review, after you've read this, you will have met all the sages except one, the light sage. Let me know, of the ones here, which your favorite is?_

_Personally I'm having a life-altering conflict between Komali and Alfonzo._

_(By the way, I haven't played spirit tracks, so please don't insult Alfonzo's personality. I'm just basing him off of Gonzo in Wind Waker, since they're essentially the same character.)_

…_._

Dark looked around carefully; burning head-stones to his left, pits of lava to his right, and a narrow path of land right down the center. Alfonzo stood behind him, eyes full of tears and sniffling. Aryll and Komali took up the rear, the forest sage was holding a lantern and the water sage was holding a short knife at his side, and Navi floated next to Dark's head quietly. She hadn't wanted to leave Link alone, she was worried about him. Link was back at the inn, safe. Dark had figured the shadow temple wouldn't take too long, because it was right in town.

Unfortunately, Dark hadn't bet that Alfonzo would be a cry baby. He took one look at the graves and started sobbing about how sad it was that all souls of the dead were trapped in limbo, and how upsetting it was that the ghosts were receiving so little love.

Those lost souls were the ones attacking them left and right, but no, it was _sad_.

Dark was about to make Alfonzo one of those spirits.

Eventually Komali left Aryll's side to speak with the engineer. "You are very empathetic." He commented. "I can admire that about you, able to feel moved by the souls of the past."

Alfonzo sniffed and agreed. "Only to the lost souls of the royal family, really. My family has served them for generations, and now I am here, serving them. It is almost like a pattern." He smiled for the first time in hours and followed Dark into the next room. He looked behind them and took in the sight of Aryll swinging the lantern happily and keeping a good watch behind them. "So, are you close to Aryll?" He asked with a grin.

Komali flinched. "W-what?" He shook his head, and very professionally corrected himself "I don't understand what you mean."

"Oh, don't play dumb with me, I can see you two." Alfonzo was probably the most interesting character that Komali had met. He was so sensitive, but he was also strong and maybe even wise.

"No." Komali looked behind him, eyes a little wide. "Now you stop talking about this."

Alfonzo put his hands on his remarkably small hips. "Komali, don't play dumb, I've studied Rito history. Don't act like it's too _weird_ to like a lady that's not a bird too. It happens all the _time_."

Komali covered the man's mouth and narrowed his eyes very angrily. "I don't know _what_ you've studied, but you must stop talking. I don't want to know, if I don't, and she doesn't need to know, and she won't."

Alfonzo smirked. "That rhymed. You guys are natural singers."

Komali groaned and threw his arms down. "You are obviously from much farther in the future than we are." He smiled a little. "And while I would love to know about my family, and my tribe, we shouldn't be talking about it."

"You just don't want me to say anything to—DARK!" Alfonzo gasped, seeing the demon fall down a pit. The trio of sages ran down, only to see Navi had flown down with him. Alfonzo slumped down and whined. "Oh gods, DARK! I'M SORRY! I SHOULD NEVER HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE RITO LIKE THAT."

Aryll raised an eyebrow and Komali narrowed his eyes in anger. "And you should stop." He added.

"THERE ARE REDEADS DOWN HERE!" Dark shouted up to them. "AND THEY KNOW I'M HERE."

"OH DARK DON'T LET THEM GET YOU!"

"Will you _shut up_?" Komali asked, dropping down into the pit. It only took about twenty seconds for him to be back up, Dark hanging off of him. Aryll smiled and Alfonzo clapped his hands like it was a miracle.

And Dark laughed.

Alfonzo might be an emotional wreck parked inside the body of a weight lifter, but he was absolutely hilarious. The best part was, they were allowed to laugh at him, where Dark had learned his lesson about laughing at Link.

The door to the boss's chamber was what made Dark stop. He looked back over the group. "If _any_ of you are going to die, you can't come in." He waved his hand and ran it hand through his hair. "Seriously, no one dies. Got it?"

Navi laughed. "Dark, why are you so worried all of the sudden?"

"You learn a lot about dead people when they're jumping on you."

They opened the door and entered the room. In the center of the dark, mysterious, silent room there was a scurry of movement. Dark looked closer. On the ground there was a little tiny hermit crab. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

And the suddenly it happened, and the little crab was crushed by a monstrous one with three swirling eyeballs and rotten green skin.

It must have been confused at first, but It finally chose a target and charged at Aryll. She yelped and ran out of the way, into Alfonzo's arms. He brought his arms up around her almost lovingly and grinned and winked at Komali, who in turn kicked him while giving him the evil eye. She stood up and ran off and the Rito growled at the engineer. "She's fifteen years younger than me, Alfonzo. _Fifteen_. I'm not attracted to her, I'm just friendly."

Alfonzo rolled his eyes. "You're so head over heels for her. I'm calling it right now." Both men watched as Dark fought the creature, shooting it with arrow after arrow. Aryll was in the corner with Navi, cheering him on and throwing out ideas.

Honestly, Komali felt guilty. They might as well be having a cold one while Dark was doing all the work. But with another sentence, he added to his stupid argument with Alfonzo. "I'm _not_ attracted to Aryll. Whatever attraction she has to me, if she has, is because she's just a teenager! You know those are crazy years for emotions. We both have been there. I don't encourage her to like older men; she should find someone suited to her. Besides, even if she liked me I don't like her back!" Suddenly though, the beast charged at Alfonzo and Komali and both men gasped a little bit.

Alfonzo stopped it. He just reached out and grabbed it, then forced it to the ground. Komali stared in shock. Dark came over to finish it off, and Alfonzo pointed between his eyes and the Rito's. "I know what's going down here, Komali. If you don't like her so much, then maybe I'll take over operation get the girl."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. And you look much older than her too, anyway." The bird man scoffed, but was quickly silenced when Aryll bounded over and took his hand.

"Isn't this great?" she smiled, and Komali sighed and looked at the glimmer in Al's eyes.

"Yes, yes it was." He agreed. Aryll then looked up at the tall engineer and threw her arms around him.

"You did great!" She beamed, and Al brought his arms up around her with a big fat, winner's smile. However, while he was expecting jealously from Komali, the rito only shrugged and smiled back.

Dark gave the whole trio a weird look before scooping up the heart piece and asking "Are you coming?"

…

"I knew you would be here." Came a woman's voice. Dark looked up. Her room was white. She hadn't painted it pretty.

"Come on now, that's a bummer." He groaned. "I'm Dark."

"I know." She grinned. "And I am Astrid, a fortune teller. I have always known you would come." She had on a long purple dress with a little veil over her face. Her hair was deep red and piled on top of her head in what looked exactly like the hermit crab shell.

"Where are you from?" He asked.

She shook her head. "I am very secretive, and you will find I am firm with them."

"Ah."

"However," Astrid added, "I will tell you that you're baby is in danger."

Aryll was the first one to shout "What? Is Link okay?"

The woman put up her hands. "Oh, no, Link is fine right now. What I am saying is there _will_ be danger."

"Why would you say that now?" Dark groaned.

"I'm a _fortune teller_. I tell you BEFORE it happens." She groaned. "Here, just take the damn medallion. I hate you and all of your kind." She handed him the Shadow Medallion and Dark raised an eyebrow when purple energy reached out across Hyrule.

"You hate me and my kind, _and_ you just restored… shadows to Hyrule?"

"I hate _demons_ sweet heart. You always think you're right. I'll be damned if you are. And we restored the balance of shadows. You really need to find the _light_ sage. He'll fix the problem of the skies being dark."

Dark already didn't like her. What kind of _sage_ says she doesn't like the person who gets them out?

"Oh, but how will you _find_ the light sage? There is no temple of light." She pulled the corner of her mouth into a smirk. "It seems you'll be at a loss."

Dark didn't think about that before. There really wasn't a light temple; it was in the sacred realm.

"Oh, poor Darkie."

Dark shook his head. "Are you going to sit here and be rude, or are you going to take us out of the temple. I have things to do, you know."

"Oh, I know." Astrid smiled through her layer of makeup. "Things to do, _people_ to do."

Dark turned around. "Excuse me?"

Astrid raised her head in a nod. "I know your secrets."

Navi had heard enough. "I'm not going to live to see the day you take us home if we don't go now. Please, let's talk less about Dark's sex life and more about going to Kakariko."

"What? What sex life?" Dark turned around. "I don't _have_ one".

Aryll giggled and both Komali and Alfonzo tried to suppress a laugh.

"Ah." Astrid laughed, "Well, that is only by your own admittance."

It took Dark the whole trip back to the Inn to get it. She made him say he had no sex life. That wasn't fair. She was a fortune teller. She could do… Well, he didn't know what she could do. Maybe voodoo, or black magic.

But Astrid just _loooooved_ Link. She was all over him, waiting on him hand and foot, asking him about his day, wanting to hear stories. It was clear to Dark what all of that meant.

"She's playing me, Link." Dark whined, leaning out on the balcony with the Hero. "She's making you like her so that you don't believe me when I tell you how mean she is."

Link laughed. "She is not."

"See! Do you see! It's already happening!"

…

Dark had been dreading leaving for the spirit temple the entire time since they returned to Kakariko. He was so worried about Link getting upset again, that after two weeks he was surprised when Link asked him "When are you going over to the shadow temple?"

Dark blinked at him. "What?"

"You know," Link looked around. Seeing that they were alone in room, he lightly nuzzled Dark's shoulder and took a hold of the demon's hand. After a second he raised it to his belly where he felt the baby kicking, and looked up at the shadow. "In three and a half months the baby will be here. It takes a whole month just to get to the Gerudo, and then about a week after that to get all the way to desert colossus. If you spend no more than a day there, it'll two and a half months just to get back here."

Dark wasn't following.

Link rolled his eyes. "Dark, don't you want to be there when your baby is born?"

Dark nodded and smiled. "I want to be there forever."

Link blushed. "Well, if you want to start with the baby, you have to go soon." He looked across the room. "I guess I'll stay here. I don't think I should travel that far. Or maybe I'll just take Epona back to the ranch and stay there. I'm sure Gannon has already checked there."

Dark nodded. "You should keep Navi with you too, just in case."

…

They went their separate ways that evening, and Link and Navi headed quickly towards the ranch, hoping to get there within a few days by horseback.

That was, until Link was shot right off his horse two hours later. "LINK!" Navi shouted, diving down towards him. He had landed on his side, and remarkably he didn't hurt himself more than the arrow already had.

His eyes widened as he looked at the arrow, lying on the ground. It had just grazed his arm—only an inch closer and it would have been lodged in his arm.

He blinked.

Who the hell was shooting at him?

Navi flew rapidly over to him and then inspected his arm. "Link, are you okay? Do you feel okay?"

"I'm…fine." Link looked around. He couldn't see _anywhere_ that arrow could have come from. What was it? He frowned.

"Something is wrong." Navi whispered, pulling over the reign from Epona so Link could use it to pull himself up. "I'm worried, maybe I should go get Dark."

Link shook his head and stood up with a grunt. "No, because if you go now and something happens, you won't know where to find me. If something bad happens we'll face it, and if not we'll get to the ranch safely."

"You won't be going _anywhere_." Came the voice. The wretched, evil voice.

Link turned to see the Gerudo standing there, eyes narrowed. He pulled the Master Sword from it's sheath on Epona and held it up threateningly.

Gannondorf only laughed. "Go ahead," He snickered, "Hit me. Oh, but don't hurt your _baby_ trying." He waited for impact, but instead of slicing at him with the sword, Link pulled Navi out of the air and shouted at her.

"Go! Go get Dark, now, okay? Hurry!" He shouted, throwing her into the air. Gannon reached out to grab her, but the little fairy disappeared into the distance.

"Go get _who?_" Gannon growled, and Link wondered if he could make up something. "M-Mark! He's, uh, saving-!"

"YOU SAID DARK." Gannondorf grabbed Link by the wrist and forced the master sword from him. Once it was back in place on the horse, he smacked Epona, and she ran towards the ranch.

"I didn't say _Dark_. I don't even know—hey!"

Gannon rolled his eyes. "Do you think I'm stupid? I knew that he was being suspicious, and now I know why. He's helping you." A memory flashed in front of him, and he snickered. "He played the game well. He was probably the one who freed you from the temple, am I right. He has a lot of magic, and…"

Link tried to jerk his hand away before Gannon completed this revelation. He knew what was coming next. He was going to figure everything out, the way he did when he realized the Zelda and Sheik were the same person, and he had been fooled the whole time.

The gerudo king laughed. "Very, _very_ well played." He lifted Link into the air by his arm and the hero yelped in a little pain. "It wasn't a wizrobe at all!" He grinned. "Dark did this to you. Dark Link. Ha."

"No, he…"

"Are you two in _love_ Link?" He laughed, "Are you starting a family? Did you plan this?"

"I…"

"Aw, have you chosen names? Does he go out to buy you ice cream into the wee hours of the night?"

"I _absolutely_ HATE Dark Link." Link spat, shocked by his own words. "He CURSED me. The only reason I'm tolerating him is because he's been helping me. He's just as bad as you, wanting to steal the baby."

"I certainly hope you don't think that saying things like that will save him. He could be your friend or your foe, but he lied to me and so I will be killing him." He paused to watch Link panic a little more, "But the look on your face says that you don't want him to die, do you? Do you think he can stand up to me? I _made_ him. I can just snap my fingers and he'll vanish from existence."

He did snap is fingers, but to Link's great relief it only put those chains back on him, instead of killing Dark.

…..

Gannondorf had taken Link into the Castle. He had given him a room with a bed, it's own bathroom, and still sent food to him four times a day. It actually was pretty nice. He threw his head back against the wall and wondered how he had known that the Master Sword had no power.

"_Link?"_ came Dark's voice _"Navi just got here, are you okay?"_

"_Fine. Actually, I'm pretty comfortable. I'm locked up in the castle though."_

"_In Gannon's castle?"_

"_Yeah." _Link rolled his eyes. _"Oh, and by the way he figured everything out. He knows the baby is yours, he knows we're in lo… That we're close, and if he sits down and does the numbers he'll figure out that I'm actually more pregnant than I originally told him."_

"_Thanks for the good news…"_

"_Go get the other two sages." _Link thought. _"Because you'll have to face him, really soon. I'm going to try and escape, but if I can't then you have to have the power to beat him."_

"_How can you possibly escape?"_

"_Give it time."_

"_Link… Don't get hurt." _Dark sighed, and Link almost could hear it in his mind. _"And call me if you need anything. I'll leave the temple in a heartbeat."_

…_.._

Of all the people to be upset by the situation, it was Astrid who was the most upset by the fact that Link was just going to hang out with Gannon. She made her opinion clear almost the whole trip to the Gerudo Desert, and after a month of saying it she still kept going.

"You aren't even going to save him?" She asked, worried. "He's going to be hurt."

Dark shook his head. "Gannondorf wants the baby. He knows now strong it could be, and wants that power for himself. He won't hurt Link. If anything he'll probably do anything Link asks for. Link is probably milking him for everything."

She crossed her arms. "I told you this would happen, Dark. I told you the baby was in danger." She batted her long eyelashes his way, and then was quiet for a second. It didn't last long. "He's like six months pregnant!"

"Six and a half, but the baby isn't in danger until it's born, and Link will be kept safe that long too. I know Gannon is evil, but when he wants something he'll do anything to get it. Link would call out to me if he was in danger."

While the two of them argued, Aryll, Komali, and Alfonzo walked behind them. Al had one of his strong arms around Aryll's waist, and similar to how Astrid had been complaining the whole time, he had been flirting with Aryll the whole time.

Aryll wasn't sure _why_ she was being flirted to, but it was only in her nature as a blossoming young woman to flirt back, and so she walked hand in hand with him, laughing and blushing and smiling.

Every few minutes Alfonzo would look up at Komali, who would meet his gaze with an uninterested stare. The Rito really didn't seem to care.

"Navi," Komali asked, "Do you feel that Link will be okay?"

She nodded and sat on his shoulder. "I'm sure he will. He's too stubborn to die."

"He too stubborn to ask for help!" Astrid shouted, making her point known _again_. "He won't call to you if he needs help what good would it do? You're so far away, you'd never get to him in time."

"Komali can scale the whole country in just minutes, Astrid." Dark replied. "He could fly on ahead of us and—…"

They had arrived in the Gerudo village, but the gate was securely shut. He frowned, looking over at the gate keeper. "We need to pass." He called to her. She shook her head.

"We do not allow visitors into the valley since the return of Gannondorf." She looked over the group. "But my, you do have a vast selection of people."

"We're here to find a new sage, to save Hyrule." Astrid explained. She was actually pretty similar in appearance to the Gerudo.

The gate keeper laughed. "There are no sages here, since Nabooru." She looked towards Dark, who she acknowledged as the leader of the group. "My name is Nadia. Tell me why you are searching for Sages, and if your reason is great enough, I will lead you to Desert Colossus."

…

Of course after hearing their story, Nadia found their reasoning to be great enough. She led them, for a week, through the raging storms of the desert and to the steps of the Spirit Temple. With only a warning she left, and the group entered the old stone palace.

The temple was massive, and Dark thought it might be the largest building he had ever seen, even in comparison with Gannon's Castle. The monsters were all either supernatural or primitive. There was nothing in-between. They didn't ignore Dark either.

It was as if Gannon had told them that Dark was a traitor. The monsters all attacked him, and only him, without warning.

One such case was when a lizalfos was planning to attack Dark from behind, and Alfonzo quickly stopped it. Aryll watched him save Dark, and then ran over and hugged him tightly. "That was so brave!" She smiled, kissing his cheek.

And then, without warning, she felt Komali grab her wrist. She looked up, confused, and he had a very… fatherly look on his face. "You are very young, Aryll, and should not be involving yourself in a relationship with someone that much older than you. Besides," He met eyes with Al, who raised an eyebrow. "Alfonzo was merely making a point, and he made it." With that, he dropped Aryll's wrist and walked ahead to speak with Dark.

"What is he talking about?" Aryll asked, looking up at Alfonzo. The engineer shrugged. "I don't know. He's right though, you're a great friend, but we are all going back to our own times, so don't hurt yourself." After she nodded he smiled to himself. Point well taken.

Astrid walked alongside Dark and Komali and smiled between them. "You are both very hesitant with your relationships." She commented.

"I'm not speaking about relationships," Komali stated coldly. "I'm here, entirely, to help Dark, and then I will return home to my son."

"And your wife?" Astrid asked, batting her eyes again.

"She passed away." The Rito answered, "But my love to her is dedicated and strong, and I would never betray that love for anyone else."

"Not even _Aryll_?" She asked. "She's a very cute girl. You and Dark have very similar tastes."

Dark, who had previously been ignoring the conversation, looked at her suspiciously. "What are you talking about? Aryll's cute, but I'm not attracted to her."

"You are very obviously in love with Link." Astrid agreed.

Dark rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I don't know about _love_, but…"

"Don't lie to yourself, Sweet Heart." The fortune teller laughed. "I know everything, remember? I was not implying that you liked Aryll, Dark." She didn't take back her implication from Komali, who just shrugged it off. "I'm saying, don't you see how similar Link and Aryll are? It's almost as if they were the same _person_." She waited, but neither of them agreed with her. "Don't you see? Their eyes? their hair? They look quite similar."

Dark didn't see it. Sure they both had blonde hair and blue eyes, but a lot of Hylians did. That was their trademark appearance. Even Zelda looked like that.

"I think you're looking too far into this." Dark muttered. He was about to continue when he heard a scream and a woman ran into his arms.

She was a gerudo, it seemed. Her hair was long and red, pulled high into a ponytail with yellow jewels securing it. She was wearing baggy blue gerudo-style pants with jeweled armor on her lower legs and arms. She looked up into his eyes in panic, and happily grinned.

"Dark!" She exclaimed. "I am Aveil, sage of Spirit. Let's get out of here!" She started to tug on him, but he held onto her wrist.

"Where's the medallion? How did you get out of your holy chamber?"

He could see her face fall. "I… forgot the medallion in there…" With a groan she led him into the next room, which was completely ridden of enemies. "I wanted to get back to the rest of the pirates, you know? I wanted to go home. I figured I could just _walk_ there, but then I realized I had to find you. It's my duty, and even as a pirate, I don't take responsibility lightly." She looked around, almost scared.

"But running through this temple in reverse, I accidentally unleashed the large monster. I can't kill it! So I ran. But now that we have to go back to get that blasted medallion, _you_ can fight him."

Aryll ran up with Alfonzo to meet the new sage. "So now we're way behind," She said, "While we look for that monster, so we can get back into the holy chamber, we should swap stories!"

Dark shrugged. "Whatever passes the time."

Aryll held Al's hands. "You go first! Tell me where you're from?"

Alfonzo met Komali's gaze, which again, didn't seem angry, just stern. It burned into him. It was silently saying 'you shouldn't be romancing a teenager like that'. He smiled and pulled his hand away. "I come from a place really far into the future. My family has served the royal family for generations." He looked proud and puffed out his chest. "I was once the greatest swordsman in the land. I gave up that life though, to be an engineer. It's much more my calling. I can see the land, help the world, and meet the ladies" He winked at Aryll, who was obviously confused.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Alfonzo?" She asked. Komali raised an eyebrow. How rude, if he had one, to play with that girl's feelings the way he did. At least Komali was clear that he did not have feelings for Aryll. Or, at least, whatever feelings he had were quickly masked by the guilt of his age against hers and the fact that he was still in love with his dead wife.

"I do. Her name is Dawn. She works in town, and I see her every time I go in." He grinned a cheesy grin. "She's pretty cute. Just like Aryll, eh Komali?"

Komali shrugged. "It would be hard to judge both girls in appearance without seeing both of them, Alfonzo; however, Aryll is rather pretty for her age." He smiled at the end, giving in a little to Alfonzo to please him.

Alfonzo nodded at Astrid. "You next. I know you're secretive, but give us something."

Astrid put her painted finger to her lips and thought for a moment. "Well, I'm not a Hylian. I'm a cobble, and we are a forgotten race. I lived on the isle of ember, and want to go home soon." She smiled. "That's all. Aveil, however, has a lovely home."

Aveil blinked. "I suppose. I live in Termina." She smiled, but it seemed like only Dark and Navi knew what Termina was. "It's another country. It is only accessible through the lost woods of Hyrule, and almost… a separate dimension. Weird things happen there, and while Hyrule is known for its magic, we are known mostly for our technology. We have no ruler, we live in a very advanced world. We're smart people." She said. "I am a pirate, and I am very good at it."

"Pirates aren't really known for being good people." Dark pointed out.

"Pirates helped save my life when I was little!" Aryll defended.

"Pirates have their ups _and_ downs." Aveil clarified. "However, we do as we please, not as we're told. I shouldn't be doing this whole _sage_ thing, but I want to go home, so we should just speed this up."

Dark opened a door that led outside, and just as he was about to close it he saw the form of a giant snake-monster.

"That's him!" Aveil pointed. "Look! He's huge!"

"He's a Moldorm." Navi whispered, "I think."

"He is called 'Twinmold.'" Aveil answered. "He is a monster of legend in Termina, and he is very , very large."

"Do you know how to beat him?" Dark asked the pirate, but she shook her head. "The legend said only the great giants could defeat him."

"I'm not great, or a giant." Dark groaned, looking at Navi. "What do I do?"

She pursed her lips. "If he's anything like a Moldorm, then you just need to smack at him with your sword until he dies."

Dark threw his arms up. "My sword won't hurt him!"

Komali looked around. "We have almost all the sages, Dark. Perhaps we can use our powers to help your sword hurt Twinmold."

The other sages thought that was a good idea, but Dark wasn't sure. Once Twinmold noticed them though, there was no choice.

He charged at the giant creature and realized just how giant it really was. It was _huge_. So huge that Dark could have probably fit three of himself in the creatures _fang_. He started bashing on him though, and after a while he began to hiss in pain. The sages all directed their powers to Dark, and soon the creature collapsed in a heap around the group. Both heads died, and he was gone.

They warped to the holy chamber just long enough for Aveil to run over and grab the medallion, and then give it to Dark. "Okay, here we go."

"This will do what?" Dark asked, seeing the orange energy.

"This will put all the lost spirits to rest."

…

A little over a month later Link was propped up against the headboard of the bed in the room he'd been given. He was reading one of the only books in the room, which was _strangely_ a book of fairy tales. Maybe this room was supposed to be for the baby, when it got older? It was pretty homey, and books were all childish.

He was reading about a tale he hadn't heard before, about a princess locked in a tower. That was similar to Link's position. The only difference was she had really long hair that she could drop down to let a hero climb up, and even if Dark was there Link didn't ever plan to grow his hair out like that.

The last time Link had heard from Dark, they were a planning to search for the light sage. They were having trouble, because there was no light temple. They were searching _everywhere._

Link had been planning his escape for a while, but had no idea how he would sneak out of the room. Now that he was reading this fairy tale though, this _rapunzel_, this was good.

Link glanced at the window in his room. Sure, he could fit through that. He might have been rather large, but he would make it. The question was, did he have the energy to scale a wall from the second story of a castle, and what would he use as rope?

He looked around eagerly. This was the best idea he'd ever had. In all the excitement though, he felt a tiny cramp in his stomach. He shrugged it off though, and continued looking for something to use as rope. He'd been having little cramps like that for the last couple days, so he wasn't worried about them.

He looked down at the various sheets on the bed he'd been on. At least three sheets and a couple woven blankets. He smiled. This would either be really good, or really, _really_ bad.

…..

Dark threw his arms up in the air. They were in Kakariko, trying to find out if anyone knew about the light sage, or temple. Maybe there was another one?

After a few minutes, they walked into a small church of the goddesses where Komali suggested they ask the priest.

The sages felt comfortable there, but Dark wasn't at all. He hated being in such a pure place—he was a demon.

"Dark, are you all right?" Aveil asked, arms crossed, "It will be hard to save Hyrule if you're dead."

"N-no, I'm fine." Dark put his hand on his head. "just… dizzy… Aryll, will you give me that water?"

Aryll looked up just in time to see Dark faint.

"DARK!" Alfonzo yelled, tears in his eyes. "WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER BROUGHT HIM HERE, HE'S HURT!"

Komali whacked the engineer in the back of the head and glared at him. "He's just fainted, and he'll be okay. The change in lighting must have irritated him, or all this incense."

Astrid looked over them with a smile. "No, something much better than that." She grinned, and just as Navi was about to ask her what she meant when a bright white light burst out of the Demon.


	9. Having Courage

_I want to apologize for my lack of explaining characters last chapter. Here we go:_

_Astrid is a fortune teller from phantom hourglass, and the monster in her dungeon was Crayk. _

_Aveil is the Gerudo Pirate leader in Majora's Mask. She's the one who stole Mikau and Lulu's eggs. She's actually also briefly in the Ocarina of Time, although not named. When Nabooru leaves she puts Aveil in charge. Her outfit changed color based on what tunic you were wearing, at least in the N64 version, but I'm pretty sure it was removed for the GC version. Twinmold was the monster in her dungeon, and to be unfortunately honest, I feel very uncreative of me. XD I mean, you actually fight Twinmold in a desert. I should have used Goht or Oldawa. _

_Oh well. Have you guys noticed this reoccurring theme with the sages names? What's up with that? Aryll, Alfonzo, Astrid, Aveil… they all start with A! That's crazy._

_Oh and I mistyped a lot in the last chapter, and even accidentally had Link call the Spirit temple the Shadow temple. _

…

Link regretted doing it. While he was hanging by a sheet-rope outside a castle surrounded by a boiling lava moat, he regretted doing it. He looked down. Only half to go.

He stopped for a second, holding tightly to the rope, as a sharper cramp traveled down him. He gasped a little. That one _hurt_. With a frown he thought about what could be causing these pains. He had been stressed out lately, and he was doing a lot of work holding his 8 month pregnant self up on a rope.

He started down again, flexing his ankles to control the speed he slid down with. He stayed at that for a few minutes before he was hit by another cramp, supremely worse than the last one. It took all of his self control not to reach down and hug himself.

It was then that it dawned on him that something could be wrong. He swallowed a lump in his throat and slid the rest of the way down. He felt a hundred times better when he was on the ground, but the pain didn't stop. He took a deep breath and thought.

How was he going to get out of the town, unnoticed? Where would he go? With a few more minutes and another sharp pain in his side, he decided that the ranch would have to do. As for how he would go unnoticed… He glanced at the Ivy growing on the wall blocking him from his freedom.

…

Dark was surrounded in the light for a few minutes, the five sages and Navi standing around him, while he lay passed out on the floor. When the light vanished many things had changed about Dark. First was his outfit. When he had been wearing the same old black tunic that Gannon had forced him to wear before, he was currently wearing a snow white tunic with a deep v-neck that came down almost to his waist, exposing a lot of his tanned chest. Instead of his normal grey tights he had slightly baggy white pants tucked into tightly laced, equally pure boots that hugged his skin and foot. Every piece of clothing had golden accents, and he was adorned in multiple piece of shimmering gold jewelery.

His hair had developed two mysterious white stripes in his bangs, and that hat was gone altogether. His hair was just pulled back into a tight, high ponytail on the back of his head, one that was a few inches long.

Aryll gasped. "Oh my gods!" She squealed, "It was Dark! Dark is the light sage!" She pointed to Astrid, who looked rather sly. "And you knew the whole time!"

Dark's eyes opened slowly, and then he felt really heavy, like there was something else in his mind besides just being a demon. He blinked slowly and sat up.

"What happened?" He asked, looking over himself. Then everything dawned on him. "Oh damn."

"So, Dark, where is your medallion?" Alfonzo asked

"I... I don't know…" He frowned. "Maybe I don't need one?" He frowned, looking at the other five sages. "What… Do I do to make it go back?"

"You get your medallion." Astrid rolled her eyes. "Why do you think we had to go back for Aveil's? It must be somewhere on your person."

Komali smiled a little bit while he watched Dark pat himself down looking for it. Navi flew around his head. "All the other sages had an enemy that had to be defeated first. Maybe you must destroy Gannon?"

Dark shrugged his shoulders. "Then lets go."

They were probably an hour away from the castle when Dark noticed a speck in the distance. Upon closer inspection of that speck, he realized it was Link. He gasped and ran to the Hero, calling to him. Komali smiled.

Alfonzo noticed. "You thinking about when you were like that?" He asked, and for once he wasn't making fun of the Rito.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking over at fire sage.

"When you see them, don't you think back to your first love?" He smiled, but for once Alfonzo wasn't winking towards Aryll. Komali nodded in understanding.

"When I asked my wife to marry me," Komali smiled, "She was so excited she started crying, and then when she jumped up to hug me all the blood that was in her face from crying flew down to her feet and she passed out in the sand for a minute." He laughed a little. "And then when she woke up she started crying again because she thought it was a dream."

Alfonzo laughed a little. "Yeah? I wonder if Dawn will have a better reaction."

Komali raised an eyebrow. "Well, it seems that your girlfriend is a little more serious than you let on." He looked over his shoulder. "You shouldn't have been pretending with Aryll like that."

"She'll be fine. She won't ever see me again after all this anyway."

Dark caught Link from behind and hugged his back tightly. "I was so worried about you!" He spun Link around to see his face was pale and even in the frosty air he was sweating a little bit. "Link, are you okay?"

He held his stomach for a minute before choking back a gasp. "What happened to you?" He asked, indicating to Dark.

Dark looked down and laughed a little. "Turns out I'm the light sage. Sick irony. What's wrong?"

Link supported himself on Dark for a minute and bit his lip. This was another one of those situations where he was acting too proud for his own good. But this time he knew he shouldn't let it get out of hand.

"Well?" Dark asked. He put a worried hand on Link's stomach, just to check it's warmth, and felt it grow tight and hard underneath his hand. He pulled back his hand. "What was that?"

"Dark, I think… I think the baby's coming now." Link whispered, hiding a wince. "I'm not sure what your plan was when you started this mess, and decided to curse me, but I _don't _have a birth canal, and I'm not liking the way I feel right now."

"Link, I _didn't_ plan this!"

"Well you need to _make_ a plan. _Now._" He gripped Dark's shoulder tighter and Dark reached down to hold him up.

"Um… Well… we could…"

"_DARK!"_

"Zelda!" Dark exclaimed. "And… Malon! Both of them!"

Link felt the wave of pain pass for the moment and exhaled a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding. "What are Zelda… and Malon going to do? Malon is probably busy planning her wedding or working with horses, and Zelda—!" A little pain hit him, but he just remained silent until the worst of it passed. "Zelda doesn't even know where we are. We don't know where _she_ is. Dark that was a bad plan, think up a new one."

"No, no, this was a good one. She can figure out what to do. She'll make this better." Dark turned around. "Komali! Astrid!"

Both sages ran over immediately, with the others following behind slower.

"Komali, fly Link to the ranch, and then come back here. Go, now."

"Wait! Dark… Don't go, I don't want to…" Link blushed. "I want… to be with you. I want you to be there."

"I will be there." Dark answered. "I promise. Go with Komali, and Malon can help take care of you. She must know _something_ about childbirth."

"Childbirth?" Komali asked, looking down at Link. "This is unfortunate timing."

"Dark…" Link whined. "What if you don't make it? What if I die?"

"I will, and you won't." Dark smiled and kissed Link quickly, before shoving him into Komali's arms. Then as they left he turned to Astrid.

"I don't know." She answered before he asked the question.

"Yes you do. You know _everything_."

"Dark, I'm not supposed to tell you that!" Astrid groaned. "She's in hiding! What if Gannondorf finds her?"

"Please, Astrid. We're talking about Link here, and the baby."

The woman stomped her foot. "This isn't _about_ them though! You were summoned to save the SAGES, Dark! You were told to stop Gannondorf! Link wasn't in the equation!"

Dark smiled at her, a little sadly. "Astrid," He started, "Link was never in the equation. You're right. He's not the reason we're fighting through temples, or the reason you and I, normal people, got made into sages." He put his hands on her shoulders, which were very small in comparison.

"Astrid," He whispered, "Link is the answer."

Astrid smiled a little. "Stop fighting those feelings of yours, admit you were wrong, and I'll tell you."

Dark grinned. "Alright. I was wrong, and I'll stop denying it. I _love_ Link."

The fortune teller smiled brightly and nodded. "She's back in Kakariko, in a secret room under Impa's old house."

Aryll gasped and looked back towards Kakariko. "But there were a bunch of guards at that house."

Dark frowned. "Okay, here's what's going to happen, so you all listen very carefully. Aryll, Astrid, and Aveil, you're going to go to the ranch now, and help keep Link from killing himself. Okay? Me, Komali, and Al will go back to Kakariko, find Zelda, and bring her back to the ranch."

"It could take hours for us to get to Kakariko," Al whispered.

"And it will take us a few _days_ to get to the ranch."

Dark sighed. "Okay, then… Komali will have to fly me to Kakariko, and then all of you to the ranch. When I get Zelda she can… well… She can teleport, right? I think I remember her warping all the time as Sheik. Whatever. I'll make it happen."

…..

Malon just stared at Komali and her friend in shock. She knew that Link was pregnant, but she hadn't expect _this_. I mean, he was REALLY pregnant, and having a baby, and she had… no idea what to do! "Link I was raised by _men_. I have no knowledge of childbirth at all! The only babies I've delivered have been horses or cows!"

Komali shook his head. "You're his friend, let him stay here, I have to go back to Dark."

"Dark… Dark Link?" She asked, but when Komali left it was up to her to hold up Link. She was lost in thought until the hero groaned in pain. "Oh, oh, Okay, Link, we'll um… Let's get you upstairs, to the bed, and we'll see what… what we can do."

"T-Thanks Mal,"

She helped him (very slowly) up the stairs and into the room at the end of the hall. Link had a kind of nostalgic feeling when he entered. This was the second time he would be crying over the baby in this room.

"Do… Do you need anything, Link?"

"The strongest liquor you have." He grunted, throwing himself onto the bed.

Malon shook her head. "You shouldn't have alcohol when you're pregnant." She turned to the door. "I'll get you come cold water, okay? I'll be right back."

Link watched her go and while he wasn't in pain propped up the pillows so he would be sitting up against the wall. Then he leaned his head back into the soft pillow and closed his eyes.

This whole pregnancy thing was a blur. He spent half of it locked up in the temple of time, and the other half locked in Gannon's castle. He looked down on his stomach. It was the total opposite of who he was before. He was a hero before. He would jump through hoops and slay dragons, and all of the sudden he couldn't do any of that.

Suddenly instead of hating the baby all he wanted was to hold it. He wanted to do everything with it. He didn't care at all about not having parents, he didn't care that he had no idea how to raise a baby, no idea that he was only turning nineteen in a few weeks. He didn't care at all. He wanted to be the best father he could, or mother, or whatever he was. He just wanted to be there.

When Malon came back in with the water and her hair tied in a loose tail behind her neck, he smiled. He wanted Dark in it too.

She pulled a stool over and sat next to Link, holding his hand. "Okay Link, I gotta know. Tell me what's going on with you and Dark."

Link smiled a little bit through his pain. "I don't know." He laughed. "I mean, first I find out he cursed me, then _he_ finds out he cursed me, and-…" He stopped and felt an immense pain slice through him. He gasped.

Malon felt his grip on her tighten and reached up to stroke his head. "No, no, Link, you have to breathe. Okay, in…. out…. Now, tell me more about Dark."

He threw his head against the bed and tried to calm down. "Malon, this isn't okay. At least women have a place for the baby to go… this one is just tearing my insides out."

Malon nodded. "Now, focus on something happy, tell me about your travels, or Dark."

He smiled. "Dark didn't know that I was pregnant, and he got all weird about it. He wanted to keep the baby, so that's what made me stop hating it, you know? Because it would have one of its parents to raise it. But you… you and Dark… Oh, goddess…."

Malon went to the vanity and dipped a rag in the wash basin, then came back to place it on Link's forehead. "It's going to be okay."

"Um," Link tried to gather his words, "Now I want to keep it though." He grunted

Malon raised an eyebrow. "Is Dark Link upset about that?"

Link smiled at her, a smile that reflected his adventurous ways. A smile that reflected the way he smiled at her when he first took Epona, and made a mad jump over the gates. His eyes glistened and he smiled and he nodded. "I want to keep him too."

Malon gasped. "Wait, you mean that you and Dark are…" She was about to protest, but the way he smiled at her made her realize just how happy he must be with the Demon.

"I think I love him." Link realized how hard he was gripping her hand and tried to stop. "Sorry," he added when he did. "So, I guess I should apologize for bursting in the way we did. It was a delicate situation though."

She nodded. "Very delicate."

She heard the sound of steps on the stairs, and Astrid entered the room. "Hello, Link. I see you're in pain."

Link frowned at her. "I don't think I could be less obvious." He looked out the window and saw Komali flying off into the distance. "What's going on? What is Dark doing?"

"He's going to find Zelda, in Kakariko." Astrid answered. "Komali is flying the rest of us here, one by one."

"He's going to be tired." Link started. He stopped though, when another wave of pain hit him. Astrid raised her eyes a little.

"Wow, how far apart are those contractions?" She directed at Malon. The red head shrugged.

"Probably a minute or so, but there's nothing we can do." Malon said, dabbing Link's brow with the rag. "At least not until Zelda gets here."

Astrid nodded. Link met her gaze and just stared in confusion. "I thought you knew everything!" He fumed. "Don't you _know_ when Zelda will be here, and when the baby will come?"

Astrid nodded. "I do know a lot, but I try not to use my powers all the time. I only try to learn the important stuff. Not that I'm saying your baby is in anyway unimportant, I just focused mainly on the sages and Zelda."

Link choked on a laugh. "Yeah, so did I."

They heard the beating of wings and the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Aveil came in just as another contraction hit the poor hero. She winced.

"There is a reason why women were meant to do that." She commented, crossing her arms and leaning in the doorway. "Men don't have the body parts required."

"_Dark…" _Link whined into the Demon's head. _"What's taking so long? I'm in a lot of pain, and…Shit!"_

Link spoke not only through the mind link, but also out loud. He clutched his lower stomach. That was a new pain.

"_Link?"_ Dark whispered into his mind _"Just hang in there, okay? I'm going to be there soon, there was just a little delay in getting Zelda."_

"_What delay?"_

"_Well, she's being guarded by about fifteen monsters. But it's good, I got it covered. Then I'll be there. With Zelda, who can make everything all better."_

Malon looked at Link confused, but Astrid smirked. "He is talking to Dark, through telepathy." She explained.

After a few moments, Aveil made her way over to the Hero's bedside. She put out her hand. "We haven't met yet. My name is Aveil. I'm the sage of spirit."

Link took her hand for a second, but then let go before the pain set in again. With another landing from Komali came Aryll running up the stairs and pushing everyone out of Link's way.

"Link!" She gasped, taking a hold of his hand in both of hers. "Are you okay? Are you being brave?" She indicated to the seagull necklace on his neck and smiled. "Don't forget, that will give you courage."

In a grunt of pain he sat back on his elbows. "I have the _Triforce_ of courage, Aryll. Brave I am, comfortable I am not."

She nodded and looked into his eyes. He smiled. She really had been there for him, probably even more than Dark on some occasions. "You're absolutely wonderful." He smiled. "So thank you for the necklace. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."

She shook her head. "You didn't, silly." She looked out the window. "Komali is just going back to get Alfonzo, then we'll all be here but Dark." She smiled again. "You probably want Dark the most, don't you?"

Aryll stepped away when he started to clench the bed sheets again, and sighed. She didn't like to see him in pain. Malon held his hand tightly and instructed him to stop holding his breath again. He just rolled his eyes.

"I'll hold my damn breath if I want to."

"If you hold your breath you'll be holding the baby's breath too, and you'll just pass out." Aveil muttered. "You should drink that water, it will help ease some of the pain. My crew has always believed that if you were at all dehydrated while giving birth, it is _much_ more painful."

Link was sure he wasn't dehydrated, but he would do anything at this point.

They heard clumsy steps on the stairs and Alfonzo and Komali both walked in, the Rito obviously exhausted and out of breath. He was leaning on Alfonzo to stand. Aryll walked over and took his hand. "Why don't you sleep? There are plenty of beds."

"My father and Mr. Ingo are in Kakariko again," Malon smiled. "You may sleep in their rooms if you like."

Komali shook his head. "I will be here… to support the Hero of Time… in all that he does."

Alfonzo snickered when he stumbled over his words. Link rolled his eyes. "I'm going to be fine," Link insisted, "Go sleep. You need your energy for fighting Gannondorf."

Aryll walked with Komali down the hall, and let him lean on her. He sighed when they entered Talon's room. As he sat on the bed, he smiled. "You know, it gives me guilt to say that I'm relieved not to be in there right now anyway. I never liked the concept of birth."

Aryll frowned. "Surely you were there when your own son was born."

"Of course I was." Komali smiled. "I was there for the whole thing. I was, however, only conscious for the beginning."

Aryll gasped. "What? You were sleeping?"

"I fainted." Komali admitted. "It was rather embarrassing and I never lived it down. But in my defense it was just after a large travel across the great sea, and I was very tired."

"Like you are now." Aryll smiled. "You worried you'll faint in front of Link?"

"No, because I'm going to take a nap." Komali chuckled.

Aryll patted his back before exiting back to the room where Link was. Komali stared out the door after her, shook his head, and laid down to sleep.

In the other room, Link was trying to get a little rest too. Even though he knew he couldn't sleep through the pain, he was focusing on just laying there, eyes closed, and saving his energy.

A surge of guilt washed over him. He had no idea what the baby's name would be. He didn't know how to feed it, what to feed it, or where to get cloths for diapers. He really hadn't thought things through, with all the adventure stuff going on.

"_Link?" _Came the voice of Dark, interrupting his rest, _"Link, we're here."_

That made his eyes shoot open, and he looked around. No, the room was empty except for Malon, still dabbing his head, and himself. The other sages had decided to go wait in the living room downstairs, to help Link rest.

Malon stood up when she heard two sets of footsteps running up the stairs, and was shocked to see the Princess, in formal attire, in her guest bedroom. She curtsied politely and then smiled, beginning to leave. "You're turn."

Zelda grabbed her wrist. "I think we might need you."

Malon bit her lip. "I don't know anything about delivering babies."

The princess smiled. "But you're the only one here who is equipped to handle it." She waited a moment before saying "I'm sure that since you take care of homeless children who wander in, and traveling families that you have spare blankets? You should get a small blanket. If you have a box of items from when you were a baby, find it, and clean up some bottles or clothes."

Malon nodded and exited, on a mission to find her childhood.

Dark stood in the doorway for a minute just looking at Link. Even if he didn't know what the Hero was going though, he could see on his face that he was tired and hurting. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was damp along his forehead.

Link didn't even know if the dampness was coming from his own sweat or the rag Malon had been dabbing it with.

Dark made his way over to the bed and, surprisingly, crawled onto it. He sat next to Link and let the Hero rest his head on him, and held his hand. Link smiled weakly and kissed his shoulder, the closest thing to him.

Zelda looked down at Link and thought. "I think the easiest way to do this is to just _give _you the things you need to just have the baby naturally." She began, "And then in a few days, after you have healed, you will turn back." Seeing the look of worry on his face, she added, "Don't worry, I won't change everything. Just _down there_."

With that she waved her hand and a pink spell fell over Link. At first he wasn't sure anything had happened, but the way his stomach dropped, and the baby instantly began moving downwards was proof enough.

So began a long and painful delivery.


	10. A New Demon to Deal With

_The baby's here! Are you excited? I am. But what could possibly happen next? Hmmm…_

…_.._

Dark couldn't be happier. He had this crazy feeling, one that he almost couldn't describe. It was like a tingle, a chill, that ran from his head to his toes, but it was also a really deep warmth. It was the greatest fear he had ever felt, but it was also the most proud and powerful he thought he'd ever be. He felt like he was going to cry, burst into tears at any second, and in fact he had already cried once. He felt like he was going to do a happy dance, throw a party, or celebrate.

He was very confused, by all these new emotions for him. He was alone, with Link, in the guest bedroom. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking over to the blonde occasionally. Link was out like light, and wasn't going to wake up until he had some much deserved rest. After four hours of what he went through? Dark was tired too.

But way too excited to sleep. He could say, comfortably, that he was the only one in the room _not_ sleeping. He looked down at the bundle in his arms and once again was struck by all those mixed feelings. He scooted back against the wall so he could balance better, and smiled.

Malon had found a crate full of baby stuff in the shed, and she , Aryll, and Alfonzo had all immediately gone about cleaning it all. She had found a little blanket from when she was a child, to wrap the baby in. It had little chickens and cows stitched onto it. She was fairly certain her mother had made it, based on the bad sewing job in some places. She had also found some glass bottles that, admittedly, were kind of old fashioned. It didn't seem to matter, though, at the moment. She even found some old clothes, some that she thought was a little biased. She didn't know what their baby would be, so it wasn't right to put it in a dress. But eventually she found a simple white nightgown for a little baby, and hoped it would fit. From what Link had told her, the baby was coming a little early.

Dark had to admit, his baby was perfect. The door opened and the curious sages, including a newly rested Komali. Dark looked down at Link for a minute, but shrugged. He could probably sleep through it, if he was that tired. Zelda passed in front of the sages and went to Link's side, obviously checking to see that he was still alive and beginning to recover.

Aryll looked down at the baby and suppressed a loud squeal. She practically jumped up and down, turned to Alfonzo, and almost shouted. "It's a little girl!"

Alfonzo laughed, looking at the baby. "I can see that."

She was curled up against her father's chest, little eyes closed. Her hair was especially thick for being a newborn, and just as black as Dark's. It was just enough to cover her head. She had pale skin and little freckles on her nose.

Komali smiled, looking over Aryll's head, since she wouldn't move away from the baby. "She is very beautiful, Dark. Congratulations."

"What color are her eyes?" Aveil asked, noticing the girl was asleep. "Are they red, or blue?"

Dark actually blushed a little. He had no idea. He had been so worried about Link, that immediately after the baby was born he stayed with Link for a while, until he fell asleep. By the time Zelda came back with Malon, who had provided the baby with a bottle full of milk and her new blanket, she was asleep.

"I don't know." Dark frowned, but he couldn't hold it. Just looking down at the baby he was too happy to frown.

"Have you two named her yet?" came the pirate's next question. Dark shook his head.

"Link fell asleep before we even knew if it was a boy or girl."

Zelda smiled and touched Link's head. "He was very brave." She whispered, taking a seat on the stool. "But while he is asleep, we have matters of great importance we should discuss."

Everyone paid attention to her, and she continued. "Now that you're all here, we should really be considering how we will destroy Gannondorf. This time, we need to make sure his banishment is permanent. I feel like perhaps we should talk plans now."

"You're probably very happy, Dark," Zelda smiled, "If what Malon told me about you and Link is true. I imagine you're proud, and probably in love with your new baby. Unfortunately you still have a world to save, and as soon as Link is fully recovered and able to take care of your little girl on his own, it will become necessary to take action. Don't let your new found love distract you from that goal."

The demon nodded.

Zelda frowned at him. "Now, even as the light sage, Gannondorf can still kill you in the wave of his hand. There is only one way to prevent that, and that means you have to enter into his presence and surrender his power over you. Once you have done that, the power of the light sage in you will rid your body of all the evil it was created with. This _might_ hurt. I'm not entirely sure how it will feel, but if you want to live to see your daughter grow up you _will_ do it."

Dark nodded. He could give up evil. He didn't really feel very evil anymore anyway. Zelda smiled. "Now, until we defeat Gannondorf you will not be able to claim the light medallion, which is what need to save the other sages. I didn't realize that Rauru would choose _you_." The princess smiled, "So we must first defeat Gannondorf to free the sages, so that they can take care of him."

Link stirred in his sleep a little and Dark's heart skipped a beat. He met Zelda's gaze. Would she be upset if they paused their meeting so Link could see his new daughter? The princess smiled at him, and nodded.

As the hero opened his eyes, by force, he yawned a little. When he saw how many people were crowded around he blushed a little and sat up quickly. It didn't take him very long to realize he was very sore. He was about to say something when he saw the baby in Dark's arms.

Suddenly he didn't care how sore he was, he crawled down to the end of the bed, dragging the blanket with him, and peaked at the baby.

Dark smiled, but gently set her in Link's arms.

Link now had no excuse to cry. He was not pregnant, and he was not in that much pain. But he was crying, and he cuddled the warm baby to him and just sobbed, touching her soft, black hair with his fingertips.

Alfonzo was crying too, the poor guy, and internally cursing his emotional self. Komali threw his arm over Al's shoulder and smiled. "I can really admire you for being so empathetic." He once again stated, and Al smiled.

Most of the sages were just quiet, letting Link and Dark have their moment, but Aveil cleared her throat. "We are not getting any younger," She started, "So please, save us all the temptations, and tell us what you will name her."

Aryll elbowed the pirate in the stomach and gave her a dirty look.

Just as Link reached up and wiped his eyes, they heard a mysterious crash downstairs. Link's eyes widened, and both he and Dark remembered what Gannondorf had said about stealing the baby. Another crash came from outside, and Link gasped.

"We'll go make sure nothing suspicious is happening," Al said, taking Komali and Aveil with him.

Astrid looked at Aryll and Zelda. "We should hide the Princess, just in case." Aryll nodded.

Malon, who had been in the back of the room, spoke up. "There is a hidden passage in my bedroom. My father built it when he was worried about Gannondorf the first time. Zelda could hide there for a little while."

Zelda agreed to go into hiding and left with them. Dark heard more crashes, and even a shriek of pain from what sounded like Aveil.

"Dark," Link whispered, "You should help them."

Dark bit his lip. "I'm worried about her," He reached out and touched the little girl's chubby cheek.

Link used one hand to pull the seagull necklace over his head, and slipped it over the baby's. He smiled. It looked fitting, on her, and it matched her hair. "She'll be okay. After all, her father is the strongest demon in Hyrule." He tucked the necklace into the little outfit she was wearing. "And I'm supposed to be the most courageous person there ever is, right? So… She's probably going to be very…"

"Proud?"

Link chuckled. "Brave." He finished. Dark took Link's free hand and kissed his forehead.

"I love you Link." Dark whispered into the Hero's ear. Link looked up, a little shocked, but then his shock faded into a smile.

"I love you too, Dark." He stopped and as Dark got up to go help, he added, "Will you stay with us, forever?"

Dark grinned. "In a heartbeat." He opened the door to leave when a bright red light filled up the room.

Gannon, in all his angry glory, stood in the center of the room. Link was shocked, but held the baby closer to him in a matter of instinct. The sudden blast of energy woke up the baby, and she began to cry ferociously.

Link felt a wave of guilt wash over him, and when he looked down at the crying baby, into her blinking and sobbing eyes, he noticed for the first time their color. Her eyes were blue, but not like his own. They were a pale, almost shocking blue. They were absolutely beautiful.

Gannondorf looked at Dark, who was still stunned in the doorway. He raised his hand at the Demon and in the moment Dark thought he would die, he found that he was only stunned. Gannon walked over to the frozen Dark and smirked.

"You have betrayed every ounce of trust I had for you." He chuckled. "But in your betrayal, I have achieved a goal that I was unsure I would ever reach." He looked over at the baby in Link's arms, and the Hero gripped her tightly. He was frozen. What could he do? Jump out the window? Dark and Gannondorf were blocking the only way out.

Dark glared, but was unable to speak. Gannondorf continued. "You have created the most powerful child in the world, I feel." He looked to Link.

Link did not look happy. He didn't look very strong, or comfortable, or awake. He was tired, he was hurting, and he was scared. He clutched his sobbing daughter tightly and tried to disappear.

"_Link!"_ Dark shouted, but knew there was nothing Link could do. Gannondorf pointed at the baby, and Link felt the tug of her being ripped from his arms.

"No!" Link gasped, watching Gannon take hold of the baby. He grinned.

"Now, she does look just like you, Dark Link." Gannon laughed, "I will be leaving now. I hope you have an enjoyable death, when I finally find the relocated Triforce. I will be dealing with you later, Dark."

With that he vanished. Dark was able to move again, and Link was frozen in space, staring at the spot in the room where Gannon had just been, holding his baby. Silent tears trailed down his cheeks, and he was pale.

Dark slowly crossed the room to Link. Link just threw his arms around the demon and cried.

….

It was about a week before Link was fully recovered and turned back to normal, and about a month before he was back to his old, skinny, heroic self.

To be honest, it hurt him ever second when he thought about the length of time the baby was with Gannondorf, but they knew the longer they waited the better strength the Hero would be in.

Zelda had answered the question about the Master Sword. It hadn't lost it's power, Link was just too fragile to use it in his condition. When he picked it up a few weeks after the birth of the baby, He felt the familiar energy shooting through him.

Zelda had encouraged them not to dash away to find Gannondorf after the baby's kidnapping. She had been searching for the easiest way to take over the castle, without damaging any lives.

Finally, after a whole month and a half, she came to the group.

"Gannondorf will be weak now." She smiled. "Today is a holy day, and he will be unable to use all of his dark powers." She eyed the demon. "You won't be able to use all of your magic either, so in order to become more powerful the _first_ thing you must do is repent from Gannon. If you do, you will then be able to use all of your power as the light sage."

Dark nodded, looking at Link. Even though the hero had been training, was back to his old self, and was a much happier person… He could still see the hole in the Hero's heart where his baby was supposed to be. He could feel the sorrow coming from him, and the lies behind his smile. He knew all this because he felt the same kind of mourning, the same loss.

Link was happy to fit into his old clothes, the clothes he had grown accustomed to. He liked that his light blue shirt was tight against his stomach and his jeans fit him nicely. He had the master sword strapped onto his belt and a cheap hylian shield on his back.

Zelda looked at the other sages, and smiled. "You have all been chosen by the current sages for very specific reasons. Aryll, you are the most like Saria in personality because of your natural love for everyone. You're good to both plants and animals."

The blonde girl blushed.

Zelda moved her gaze to Alfonzo. "You were chosen by Darunia because you are strong, in will and muscle, and you have a very emotional personality. You can be moved emotionally by anything."

The engineer smiled and nodded.

"You," Zelda nodded at Komali, "Were chosen by Ruto because you are one of her direct descendents. You are also very professional and while you do feel emotion, you can control it in the face of business."

Komali folded his arms and agreed.

"Astrid is most like Impa, because of her powerful ability to see danger and concentrate on the solution." Zelda smiled. Astrid returned it.

"Nabooru chose Aveil because she is actually her Terminian counterpart. You two are almost the same person." Zelda watched Aveil nod. She knew very well about the counterparts of Termina and Hyrule.

Zelda looked at Dark. "And you Dark, were chosen because you are similar to Rauru. You want to do everything with your own wisdom, you want to be right, and you want to follow your intuition. However," She smiled. "You will always follow your heart. A heart that is in _no_ way evil."

Link took the demon's hand and smiled at him.

"We had in no way planned to do this with the help of the master sword, Link, but now that you are back and able to use it, this could be very beneficial to us. There is only _one_ problem." She met his worried gaze.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"You are a mother now." She laughed when he turned red. "I know you hate to be called that, and I'm sure you have no intention of letting your daughter call you 'mommy', but you still are the mother. And because of that you have a very strong connection with your baby. Remember what I told you? Intuition?"

Link nodded, still blushing. "I remember."

"If you lose sight of what the goal is—to defeat Gannondorf—then you will be absolutely useless to us. You cannot focus on the baby. You cannot stop everything to take care of her. She might get a little hurt, Link. She might even _bleed_." She frowned. "You cannot stop what you're doing, drop everything, to go to her."

Link frowned and nodded. "I can do that."

Zelda stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "I know it will be hard." She looked around. "Everyone, you need to begin saddling up horses and packing."

The group dispersed, and Zelda looked at Link.

"Link," She started, "I've been looking into the curse, with the words you told me. Are you sure that those were the _exact_ words of the curse?"

Link nodded, alone with the Princess. "Yeah, I know it was."

She took his hand. "Okay, well then I need to tell you something," She waited for him to nod. "The curse was the reason you became pregnant, and probably even a little bit of the reason why you and Dark fell in love. Dark not only cursed you, but inadvertently cursed himself in the process, causing him to become very attached to you."

Link raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying we're not actually in love?"

"No," Zelda laughed. "You two have certainly proved you're in love. What I'm trying to say is… Well the words to the curse were 'you'll search for me like a mother searches for her children on a rainy night'."

Link agreed. "Yeah?"

Zelda smiled. "This curse reflects similarly to one that would make you come back to him, which is what he wanted. He misplaced the words 'mother to her children' with something along the lines of fighting. I think he was just confused because you were fighting and he was desperate."

Link shrugged. "Sounds like Dark."

Zelda smirked. "But, because he did replace it with those words, he ended up making some kind of 'perfect family' based curse." She paused. "Link, describe to me, not based on yourself necessarily, what the 'perfect' family would be?"

Link blinked. "I don't know, a mom, a dad, a couple kids and a dog?" He laughed. "Maybe a cute little house on a hill. Why?"

"Because I wonder what Dark's idea of a perfect family is, and I'm sure your ideas are similar." Zelda took Link's hand, and he looked at her confused. "Link, that spell said the mother was searching for her _children_." She winked. Link didn't follow.

"So?"

"Children is the plural form of _child_. Now, I'm not sure what that curse is, or how long it will last, but if it's related to the other family based spells then I think you should find out what Dark's idea of a perfect family is."

Link looked at her in absolute confusion. "why?"

"Because, Link, if his idea of the perfect family is you, him, and your daughter then you're all set. If his idea of a perfect family is having a house-full of kids, or even just two, like you said, then you're in for more than a few surprises along the way."

Suddenly everything dawned on him. He gasped and pointed out the window at the Demon. "You're saying if he even imagines for a _minute_ that having another baby is a good idea, then it might happen?" He gaped at her. "That's not okay! He can do it! I don't want to have another baby, ever! I changed my mind, the perfect family is one baby and one adopted child. This isn't fair!" He groaned and threw himself against the wall. "I won't do it again."

Zelda laughed. "You probably won't have to. I don't think Dark knows that he has any control over the curse. I don't think he knows anything about it."

"So what does that matter?"

"Well," Zelda smiled, "You could convince him that having one baby is the perfect life, that she'll be a handful, and that you couldn't be happier."

Link leaned against the wall and laughed. "You're saying I should brainwash him into not wanting more kids?"

Zelda frowned. "Is that offensive to you?"

"No," Link began, "It's brilliant." He looked into her eyes and shrugged. "I mean, I wasn't supposed to have a baby to begin with. It hurt, and I don't want to do it again. I haven't even got to spend time with my baby yet."

Zelda nodded. "I just wanted to warn you."

Link laughed. "I wouldn't worry about it. If Dark doesn't know about it, I'll just convince him that one is more than enough."

…

When they had first gone to the castle, Dark and the other temporary sages had to make another bridge, as the first ones had. Once that was done, they snuck inside.

The plan was to divide and conquer. They broke down into groups of two and were going to all meet again at the top of the castle, each getting there through a different route.

Aryll and Komali were going to try to go by the outside route, him flying and her equipped with something she had never seen before. Komali made it out of a long rope and a bent piece of metal. He called it a grappling hook. He said Rito children who had not yet earned their wings used it to get around. They would climb up the outside, using their powers to subdue the enemies in the air.

Aveil and Alfonzo were going through the side doors and corridors, to get to the top in secrecy. Alfonzo was powerful, and Aveil was just cold enough to keep his emotions in check, and so they made a great pair.

Link, Astrid and Zelda were going the most obvious way, partly an age old team once again traversing Gannon's castle. They were destroying enemies and shooting up the middle.

Dark was going to see Gannondorf first, warping up to the top.

He got there quickly and it seemed that the man hadn't noticed him. There was a scared, old woman with him, and she was trying to calm him down..

He growled. "You are a nursemaid! You are supposed to know how to take care of children!"

She reached up, almost like she was trying to reclaim the baby. "I _do_ care for children, and that is why she is healthy and safe."

Gannon held the screaming two month old child with one hand and held back the old woman with the other. "IF SHE IS HEALTHY WHY DOES SHE SCREAM WHEN I HOLD HER?"

The woman shook her head, "Please, lord Gannon, hold her with two hands. She's just a baby." She waited for him before adding, "She knows, sire,"

Dark raised an eyebrow. Gannon growled. "Knows _what_?"

"She knows you are not her father! She doesn't feel comfortable with you because she was born out of a hero! She can feel you are evil!"

"SHE WAS MADE BY AN EVIL DEMON!" Gannon shouted, "HOW CAN SHE BE COMFORTABLE WITH DARK LINK IF SHE IS UNCOMFORTABLE WITH EVIL?"

Dark stepped out of the shadows. He smiled, eyeing his daughter. She was wearing a dark red dress, and her big eyes were squinted shut in her tears. "Because I am not evil."

Gannon raised an eyebrow. "You are mine," Dark mentioned, "I created you, you are made of evil." He stepped forward to Dark, grinning. "Are you here to see what has become of your daughter? She is going to be a lovely evil princess one day."

Dark felt his heart tug a little as Gannon cradled the baby.

"What has happened to your clothing? To your hair?" Gannon suddenly asked, eyes narrowing, "Why are you dressed in colors of purity? Are you trying to defy me? Do you think you can stop me?"

The little girl started to scream louder.

"I will kill you now Dark! I will kill you right here!" He raised up his arm, as if he was about to throw some kind of energy ball at him. He gasped, and tried to speak, but a fear swallowed him whole.

Suddenly though, the screaming baby raised her hands and a solid black energy shot into the air, almost hitting Gannon in the face. Dark gasped.

The baby was a demon too. _Oh goddess,_ Dark thought _What will Link say? _

Gannon dropped her on the spot, and the confused and probably hurting baby landed in Dark's arms with a yelp.

It was almost instantaneous. So much so that the nursemaid smiled and Gannondorf was too stunned to hurt Dark.

The little girl cuddled into Dark's arms and was cooing happily.

"WHY IS SHE SILENT?" Gannon screamed. Dark grinned. He was winning a few fights today.

He stroked his daughter's face. "Because, Gannondorf," He started, "I'm her father. And I am _not_ evil." He looked right into Gannondorf's eyes and spat. "Using my powers as the sage of light, I repent for all of my ways. I repent for being your servent, and I renounce you as my master."

He watched Gannon's look of shock when he said that he was the light sage, but he felt a new kind of magic wash over him.

Dark suddenly felt light headed and held on tightly to his daughter. He felt a wave of nausea and realized that it wasn't his evil he was losing, it was his energy. He was _made_ of evil. All that he was, his power, his shape, was evil. So he was a little surprised about how he felt when it was gone. He still felt like himself, but just… different.

Gannondorf took in the sight in front of him. Dark's hair had all turned white, and his blood red eyes were the only thing left of his demon life. He was radiating power, and he snickered. The baby girl reached up at him, and he looked down. In that moment she took hold of a lock of his hair and tugged gently.

The evil lord only laughed though. "You must think you are smart, don't you?" He laughed evilly. "But what will happen when the rightful sage, Rauru, takes his power back?"

Dark raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Nothing."

"You must see what they have done to you, Dark." Gannondorf laughed, "You were made of evil. Now the only thing keeping you alive is the power of being the sage. Once they take that away," He snickered, "You will just be a spirit. You will die."

Dark swallowed a lump in his throat and once again directed his attention down his daughter again and kissed her little nose. Gannon rolled his eyes.

Suddenly Link and the rest of the sages who had all met up burst in, and the group stared at the scenario in front of them. Link stared at Dark with wide eyes. "You're… You're not…" He smiled warmly.

Gannondorf looked around and saw the group, then laughed. "Do you think this is some sort of an ambush? Can you defeat me?"

Link drew his sword and smiled. Gannondorf laughed. "That sword is useless now."

With a charge he swung the blade at Gannon, who shrieked in pain. Link grinned. "How do you like me now, bitch?"

In that moment of pain, Gannon didn't notice the sages gathering around him, and forming a force field around him. Link smiled. This was all going according to plan. He sheathed his sword and ran to Dark, who passed the baby to him. Then he ran back out of the way.

He bounced the baby in his arms and looked over her. She was already more beautiful than he could imagine, with her hair curling in little wisps around her head. He felt guilty as he remembered she still had no name, but hugged her close. At least he had her back.

Led by Zelda, the sages all used their powers to seal Gannondorf, body and all, away. When the magic faded and the room became visible again, there was nothing in the place of the evil king but a little yellow disk. Dark stepped forward and picked it up, looking out at the sky. With a wave of yellow light, all the clouds vanished, and peace was once again restored to Hyrule.

Zelda smiled. "Dark, it's time to bring the sages back."

Link jogged over and asked, in awe, "Where did he go?"

Zelda turned to face him, smiling at the giggly baby. "We banished him to the twilight realm, where he will live forever in darkness."

Link raised an eyebrow. "And you can do that… while he's alive..?"

"Yes."

A grumble came over the Hero as he wondered why they didn't do that the first time, and save him the trouble of fighting all those forms of Gannon. Dark wondered over and kissed Link's cheek, then began to coo at the baby. She smiled at him, and for the first time since he lost his daughter, Dark felt complete.

…


	11. The End and the Future

While they made their way to the temple of time, Aryll smiled and played with the baby in Link's arms. "She's so beautiful." She giggled, "What will you name her?"

Komali and Al chuckled at the teenager.

Link looked up at Dark and shrugged. "I have no idea what we should name her."

Astrid looked over and said, "You know, it used to be a tradition in my homeland to name your child after one of the ancient gods or goddesses that represented them. We had a broad selection of gods there, but obviously yours is much more limited."

Zelda peaked at Astrid. "It is illegal to name your child after one of the golden goddesses." She reminded Link and Dark, "However there are a few other goddesses that people used to believe in, such as the goddess of time, and the goddess of courage."

Link thought about that and looked at Dark. "I think we should name her after the goddess of courage!" He smiled, looking deep into the ex-demon's red eyes.

Dark smiled. "It is a very pretty name." He nodded. "It's decided then."

They started up the steps to the temple, but Aryll felt left out. When they entered she finally asked, "What is the name of the goddess of time?"

Link smiled, cradling his baby girl. "Her name is Artemis."

Aryll grinned, and then laughed. "Wow! My grandmothers… name is… Artemis…" She looked down at the seagull necklace, the one that Link had given his daughter.

Suddenly everyone was on the same page. Everything about Aryll made sense, in a whole new light.

"_My family has always been known for their courage, but I never knew why...This necklace has been passed down in my family for years, Link. My brother told me it was a symbol of the courage our family was known for. I want you to have it, so you'll feel courageous too…" "Don't you see? Their eyes? Their hair? They look quite similar." "Don't forget, that will give you courage."_

Aryll and Link locked eyes, and suddenly Dark realized _why_ he had always been attracted to Aryll's eyes too. They weren't _similar_ to Link's, they _were_ Link's.

"Oh my gods." Aryll gasped, pointing at the two men and their baby. "Oh, no! Now I know! Now I know _why_ my family is known for their courage! Now I know everything!" She paced, holding her head in her hands. "Oh gods!" She gasped, again, pointing wildly, "You, you're my, my,"

"You're great-grandparents." Astrid smiled. "And they almost got away with it too, if not for that meddling seagull." She paused then added, "That seagull's eye is made from a chip of the Kokiri's Emerald."

"What?" Link asked, looking from Aryll, to his daughter, to Dark. "But… You said…"

"You said you had never _been_ to Hyrule." Dark accused. "You said that you lived on an ocean, and there are no oceans in this world!"

Zelda stepped in, along with Komali. "I don't think we should discuss this any further." She said, "Unless you want to upset the Goddess of Time."

Link pointed at Komali. "You said the Rito evolved from the Zora. Why did you? Why did they need to fly? What for?"

Aryll gasped and looked at Komali, who was totally taken aback. "Don't say it!" Aryll shouted, only to get a dirty look from Link. Dark looked down at his daughter and frowned.

"You said you live with your grandmother on an island. You said that, I remember! Why? When is this going to happen? Is it a flood? Does everyone flee to another world? What's going on here?"

Astrid and Alfonzo looked at each other with a little bit of shock, and Aveil finally opened her mouth.

"Link! Dark! Stop talking. Obviously they can't tell you, because it can upset the balance of time. Now you both shut up and leave them alone. Aryll is obviously already confused by this whole thing."

Both men frowned. Link reached out and placed his hand on Aryll's shoulder. "I'm sorry for getting upset," He started, "We're just worried. Now that we know you're… part of our family, we were just worried. You know what will happen, but what do we know?"

Aryll hung her head. She did know a lot, and now she realized she knew more than she should.

"Come on," Zelda groaned, "Let's go release the sages. They will fix this."

Each of the sages stood in the back of the temple of time, and focused on the sealed portal to the sacred realm in front of them. Link stood in the back with Zelda, who looked over at him. "Link," She started, "I don't know what's going to happen to Dark."

Link stopped playing with Artemis's hair and looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, just like each of the other sages has to take it upon themselves to send their respective representative back to their own world, it is Rauru's job to determine what happens to Dark." Zelda looked down. "I shouldn't have kept this from you, and I think Dark knows it, but when he renounced the evil in him… He actually killed most of himself. The only thing that was keeping him alive was the fact that he was a sage."

Link looked at Dark, with his white hair, and was confused. "So, you're saying that when he gives back the sage power to Rauru…" Link looked at Zelda with wide eyes. "There'll be nothing left?"

He gasped and started to run forward, but the sages had already built up their powers to free their partners.

"Link!" Zelda reached out and grabbed his wrist, "Stop, you can't do anything now."

"Why would you do this?" Link gasped, staring at her in total shock. "Why would you let him do something that would _kill_ him?"

Zelda shook her head. "I didn't say that! His fate is up to Rauru. Maybe Rauru will just make him go back to normal."

Link watched. The wall died and the other sages stepped forward. One by one each sage held up their hands, and their temporary counterparts vanished. Link was totally shocked. When everyone was gone except for Rauru, he stepped aside to reveal the form of Dark, totally transparent, and looking like he used to.

He was like a ghost.

Link started to cry. Zelda gasped. Rauru stepped forward, but the form of Dark didn't move. His hair was black again, and his eyes were rolled back in his head. He was wearing the clothes Gannon used to make him wear, and his body was just kind of dangling in the air.

"Without any body, Dark's spirit is just surviving off of something that I did not realize he had," Rauru began. "He is living off of his human emotions."

Link stared at the ghost, stepping forward. He wasn't responsive, he was just floating there. Rauru turned around. "He won't react to you. He's just a lost spirit now."

Link adjusted the baby on his hip and shook his head. "You can't really do this, can you? Don't leave him like this."

"He is a magic being! He has no way to live!" Rauru disagreed. Zelda looked at the hero in worry.

"Rauru, please? He did everything he was asked to do. He stopped Gannondorf, saved Zelda, and even me! He's a _hero_, Rauru, he deserves another chance."

Rauru looked over at the spirit, then back to Link. "He won't be the way he was before."

Link looked into the sage's deep set eyes. "As long as he's himself, I'm happy."

With a sigh Rauru waved his hand over the spirit, and Dark's body began to form. He fell to the ground wearing a black shirt, similar to Link's and a pair of dark grey jeans. Link ran over and kneeled next to him, and with his free hand he reached down and tilted his head up. All of his hair was black again. Link looked at him with relief.

"Dark, are you okay?"

Link stared in shock. Dark smiled warmly at him. "I'm fine, hero." He hugged the blonde tightly. Link gasped, touching Dark's face. His eyes were… blue. Blue and pale, Like Artemis's. Link looked up at Zelda and Rauru, and the sage smiled. "Only _evil_ demons have red eyes."

Zelda looked down at Artemis. "That's why your daughter's eyes are blue."

Link gasped. "Artemis is a demon?"

Zelda nodded. "She was created by magic, Link. She's a demon."

Dark sat on the floor, confused. Why did he feel so dizzy? He looked up at Link, and said, "Will you help me up?"

Link looked down, confused. Why did he need help up? He put out the hand not holding his sleeping baby, and pulled Dark to his feet. He paled rather quickly, and almost fell over. Link gasped.

As Dark leaned on Link's shoulder, he could hardly keep his eyes open. "I don't feel… right, Link." He muttered. "I feel really… weak."

Link looked into Rauru's eyes and couldn't understand, "Okay, so if you just made him a good demon, with blue eyes, why is he so weak? Shouldn't all the goodness in the world be making him feel better?"

Rauru shook his head. "Dark is _not_ a good demon."

Zelda smiled. "It doesn't work like that, Link."

Link looked down at the man, who felt like he was about to pass out. "Then what did you do to him?"

Rauru smiled, and met eyes with Dark. "Dark isn't a demon any longer. Now he is just… A hylian."

Dark's eyes widened a little. "W-what?"

"You will have trouble adjusting, at first," Rauru smiled. "Because you're not as powerful or at all composed the same. You might have to re-learn your own boundries, and your strengths."

Link felt a smile growing on his lips. Dark was blown away.

"You know what this means, don't you Dark?" Zelda smiled.

Dark tried to smile, but was absolutely worn out.

"Now that you're not made of pure evil, or of pure goodness… You're free to be your own person."

Dark looked totally unfazed by that, but all of them knew how incredibly happy he was on the inside. He was allowed to do whatever he wanted, love whoever he wanted, and wasn't part of any evil or good plans. He was just… just an average Hylian. Just a regular jo. Just Dark.

…..  
EPILOGUE  
…..

**ASTRID:**

Astrid returned to the island she was from, with all of the memories she had made. Impa saw no reason why she couldn't remember, because she was secretive anyway. She resumed her job as a fortune teller, and went about her life, guiding the people she met.

**AVEIL:**

Aveil returned to her world with absolutely none of her memories Nabooru wasn't sure that someone who could venture into their world should know about all the future of Hyrule. She was returned to the day she left, no time had passed, and she was the exact same Pirate Leader she always was.

Shortly after her return, there were rumors that the moon was going to fall, and she got involved with a skull kid. Because of that, he led her to steal some magical Zora Eggs.

Eventually a young blonde boy came and fought her, and her pirates, totally ruining them. The only thing that she couldn't get over was the strange sense of familiarity she felt around that boy.

**ARYLL:**

Aryll was returned home with only bits and pieces of her memories. She could remember most of it, but some things were just fuzzy. Saria had decided that if she wanted to remember it, she could, but it would be her choice. She was returned to her home after the amount of time had passed that she was gone—about a year. Aryll reached up to her neck and touched it.

She didn't have her seagull necklace. She had given it to Link. She was on the sandy beaches of her island. She sighed and started to head towards the house that had long been her home.

She didn't get there before she saw her brother.

He stood there, nineteen years old and covered in dirt because he must have been helping Abe with his pigs. His hair wasn't sandy like Aryll's, it was bright, sunshine yellow. His eyes were the same blue as her though, and they were wide with shock. He was wearing a loose blue long-sleeve shirt, something that made no sense to anyone who lived on the tropical island, and he had on khaki pants that were a little too short at the ankles. He must have had another growth spurt. He had a rope in one hand and his shoes, which he had been removing (probably because they were loose sandals and hard to work in) in the other.

He dropped them. He ran the whole distance of the beach practically to meet her, pulling her in his arms and even spinning her in the air for a minute. She looked up into his eyes with tears in her own, but he wasn't crying. He was fighting it with the strength that let him save her in his youth. He held her for a few minutes before pulling a necklace out from under his shirt.

"Sis, did you drop this?" He asked, holding out the seagull necklace to her. "Grandma found it the other day in a box in the house, and we were both totally confused. You never used to take it off."

She stared at it. She hadn't… she had given it to Link. With a smile, it came back to her a little bit, and she remembered about the necklace being passed down. Link must have passed it back down to her. She let him put it over her head and grinned.

"I missed you, brother!" She squealed and hugged him again. "And I—who's that?" She asked, seeing a young Rito boy flying towards the island.

Her brother, Link, looked up into the air and waved. "That's Prince Komali," he answered. Aryll remembered Komali, but she didn't remember him being her age. He was so much older than her when she met him! "He's my age, in fact our birthdays are only three days apart!" He smiled. "He came to help out. His dad is making him do a lot of 'interning' before he can accept the duty of being chief."

The teenage Rito landed and looked at Aryll. "Hello," he whispered shyly. Aryll took in the sight of the man she had met, but a few inches shorter and without any wrinkles. His voice wasn't as deep either, and he looked just like… like a teenager. "I'm Komali, of the Rito tribe. I'm helping Link with his chores as part of my internship to become chief." He gave her a mini-bow and she smiled at her old…new friend? He raised an eyebrow. "What's your name?"

"I'm going to go tell Grams you're back, okay sis? I'll be right back!"

Aryll watched Komali sit in the sad, probably exhausted from flying. She sat too. "My name is Aryll." She wondered if this Komali would remember the sage things, since he hadn't really been the one there.

He used his finger to draw her name in the sand, but forgot an 'l'. It just said Aryl. "You know," He began before she could correct him, "If you spell your name backwards it spells Lyra."

She stopped talking. Lyra? Where had she heard that name before?

"the lyra is my favorite instrument. They make the most beautiful notes." Komali smiled and looked off at the sea. "Aryll… that's a lovely name."

Aryll wasn't sure at all where she had heard the term Lyra, but part of her thought it must have been some kind of memory from her travels with Link that she wasn't supposed to remember. She gazed out over the sea and a flash of memories came back to her.

"_Tell me about your wife?"_

"_We were star crossed… Love at first sight... We were both young… she became my princess…"_

"_What was her name?"_

"…_Lyra."_

Aryll stared at Komali wide eyed and everything hit her like a bomb. She couldn't remember the whole conversation, or even anything more than that little flash back, but she suddenly knew. Lyra is Aryll spelled backwards. How had she missed it before?

Komali looked at her with a blank face. "Are you okay, Aryll? Should I go get Link?"

"No, I'm fine," Aryll smiled. "Just tired. Do you mind if I just sit here with you?"

He blushed a little shade of pink and shook his head. "N-no, not at all." He looked down at her with unsure eyes, and she stared at him for only a second before redirecting her gaze to the ocean.

**ALFONZO:**

Alfonzo returned to his world only a few hours after he left, and with all of his memories. Darunia determined that he was harmless, and even if he did know the _past_ what did it matter when he was already in the future?

He was excited to see that he had only been gone a while. He ran into his home, which was partly a garage for trains and dug around in his dresser drawer until he found what he was looking for and then, for some reason, taped it to his forearm.

He jumped on his train and headed straight into town. When he arrived, he ran down the streets at full speed. People would stop him here and there to say hello, and a few kids stopped him to ask for a ride on his train, but he just bolted down the paved roads with a ridiculous grin on his face.

He burst into the tailor shop and stood in the doorway, panting. The two women working in the shop and about four different customers looked up.

"Al?" Spoke one of the two employees. She was wearing a little pink apron over her light blue dress, and she had auburn hair that fell down her back in tight ringlets. He smiled and ran over to her before picking her up and spinning her in the air. She was so small in comparison with his bulky stature that he could practically wrap his hands around her waist. She laughed and he set her down, and she asked, "Why are you here? What's with that stupid smile?"

He smiled. "Dawn," He laughed, and got down on one knee for her. She paled. "It's been a while, and it's pretty clear to me that I'm in love with you."

She blushed.

"So what I'm asking here is…" he stood up and showed her a rip in his shirt. "Will you sew this hole for me?"

With a screaming red blush she gasped and smacked him in the head. "What?"

He laughed, and she started to search for thread that matched the blue of his sleeve. She finally groaned at him and, still embarrassed, asked "Do I have to roll up your sleeve too?"

He nodded, and she started to fold back the sleeve. She stopped when she saw the diamond ring that was taped to his arm.

"Oh," He started, "That's, uh, well…" He laughed, "I just forgot my punch line."

Dawn stared at him.

"Will you marry me?"

The woman smiled and reached down to the tape on his arm. With a jerk, she ripped it off, and he yelped in pain.

While she peeled the rather hair-covered tape from the ring, and slid it on her finger, she grinned. "Yeah, I guess I'll marry you."

**KOMALI**:

Komali was sent back to his time only about a week after he had left. He had very few memories of the adventure, but a sort of nagging feeling that he should rethink the things his wife had asked him to do before she died. He found himself in his own chamber, and burst through the door. The whole tribe was gathered around a young Rito when they heard the door fly open, and everyone gasped.

"Dad!" came the voice of the only person Komali ever wanted to hear. He ran forward and threw his arms around the young, still very wingless, boy and smiled.

"Rayne, I was worried," He whispered, "that I would have missed your big day." He pulled away from his son and looked over him. He was, of course, only half Rito, but he had developed all the traits of the tribe and so they were certain that Valoo would grant him wings. He was however the only Rito to ever have blue eyes, and he had little wisps of blonde in his silver-white hair.

Komali almost couldn't contain himself, staring at his own pride and joy, and looked at the little necklace on his neck. It was pretty beat up, sort of faded, but still retained its seagull shape. He smiled and looked into his son's eyes. "Are you ready to earn your wings?" He asked with an encouraging grin.

Rayne nodded, holding out a grappling hook and a bottle of potion. Komali nodded and watched as the tribe sent him off, and then answered only a few questions before he decided he needed to pay someone a visit. A long overdue visit.

He was surprised to find that he didn't lose all of his memories, and felt a little worried about what he might have done. He vaguely remembered talking to Aryll, and hoped that she wouldn't figure out anything crazy. He had been very happy to see her again. And perhaps a little worried that she would undo what they had done together.

When he made it to his destination, he found himself knocking on the door of a house he hadn't been to in ten years. He wrenched his hands awaiting the answer, which came from a tan, blonde woman with a baby on her hip. She gasped.

"You," she went wide-eyed and pointed at him, trying to find her voice. "You and Link need to work this out. Don't you dare move!" she gasped, running back into the house.

It was just like that pirate woman to make Komali's business her own, but for once he was happy to hear her shouts of fury coming from the house.

"GET OUT THERE AND TALK TO HIM!" she screamed, before Aryll's brother found himself shoved out on the front porch, jar of baby food in hand. He turned to re-enter, but they both were surprised to hear the lock of the door. "DON'T COME BACK IN UNTIL YOU WORK THIS OUT."

The only thing he got out of the 30 year old Hylian man was a glare, one that might have rivaled the _original_ Link. He tried to smile at him, but finally sighed.

"You don't have to talk to me," Komali started, "But I just want you to listen."

"You killed my sister." He stated coldly. If looks could kill… well there would be no more Rito Chief.

A flash of anger struck Komali, and he had to resist the urge to hit the islander. He might not _look_ like the hero of time, but he was _certainly_ related to him.

"I _loved_ your sister. I fought to save her until the moment she died." He shook his head "We couldn't have known that the island carried disease. We were all born immune to it. We didn't know until it was too late that she could develop illness."

"You shouldn't have taken her away." He frowned.

"We were in love. I didn't _take her away_, I married her."

"And in doing so forced her to live away from her home, in an active volcano, so you could have your cake and eat it too." He set down the baby food and crossed his arms, not in the least bit fazed by the mango-colored splotch on his shirt where he had obviously spilled some.

To be honest, Komali didn't know that Link _had_ a child. He barely knew that he was married. Shortly after Aryll announced their marriage, Link totally disowned the two of them, and the only news they got of him was through their grandmother's letters. Once their grandmother finally passed away, they stopped being in touch with Outset Island all together. Even the postmen limited their visits. Some didn't even land, just did their job and left. He briefly wondered if he had other children, since he had been married for seven years, but wasn't sure.

Komali groaned at the stubborn man before him and shouted "I told her I would renounce my title! I told her I would come to the island and she could stay with her family! I _ruined_ my relationship with my own father because I loved her so much. I will not defend that point anymore!"

Link didn't respond.

"I have come here to try and make amends with you, but if you refuse that's fine. Today Rayne has begun his journey to see the great Valoo."

A curious pair of eyes watched from the window while Link looked up. Maybe he wasn't speaking to Komali, but Link was curious to know what was happening to his nephew. He shrugged.

"As you remember from when you helped me when we were children, that is what Rito children do when they come of age."

Link scoffed. "He's not a Rito. He's some kind of mutt because you couldn't marry someone of the same _species_ as you."

Once again Komali's eyes flashed in anger. If only Link knew that his own great grandfather was a demon, would he be as biased against Komali?

"You are not the goddess who determines love, and you are not the goddess who determines offspring, so I will not be having _that_ conversation with you either. But even if you _were_ I came here because he IS only half Rito."

Link raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Komali sighed. "When I spent my last night with your sister, she told me the things that she really wanted to see happen. One of them was about the coming of age ceremony. I don't know what it was anymore, I seem to have forgotten, but she told me that you had something that he needed."

Link shook his head. "I don't know what you could be talking about. There's nothing here that…"

"She said that here on Outset, when boys come of age they are to dress like the Hero of Time. Please, Link, if you have the clothing, or the items that she was talking about, please let me take it. It was one of her wishes."

"But he's going to see Valoo. He's already _having_ a coming of age ceremony." Link whispered, not so much angry as confused. He apparently noticed the baby food on his shirt, because he started to rub at it.

"But like you said, he comes from two different backgrounds." Komali breathed deeply. "And so it is only fitting to honor the traditions of each family."

Link sighed, nodded, and muttered "Wait here." While he entered the house his wife returned with the baby.

"How's it going?" She asked quickly, "Do you need me to hit him?"

Komali laughed. He had always had mixed feelings about Tetra. However angry Link had been, the rest of the island didn't hold a grudge. His grandmother had supported them to the fullest. He looked down at the baby.

"Who is this?"

"This is little Deana. Deana Artemis. We named her after his grandmother, since she passed away." She held the chubby baby to his face and spoke in the most ridiculous baby voice "Do you see your uncle Komali, Deana? Do you?"

"Is this your only baby?" he asked, embarrassed.

She nodded, smiling. "No, I understand you asking, but yes, this is our only baby." She turned to see Link coming down the stairs. He had a box with him.

"This is it." Link whispered. He set it down to explain its contents. "This outfit here is the real deal. My grandmother made it for me, does it look like it will fit? I'm sure there is someone on your island that can alter it if it doesn't. On Outset Island it is a tradition for a boy to wear these clothes for the year after he reaches the age the Hero of Time was when he set out on his adventure. A lot of people are going to make fun of him though," Link trailed off, "It's a pretty old fashioned tradition."

"What is this other stuff?"

"Those are accessories. There's the hat, boots, and belt that goes with it. There are also some bottles and items I found when I was saving Aryll." He thought about it. "Part of the tradition is to send them to do something. Usually mothers have their sons milk a cow or go pick berries. It was strange for me to have to save my sister that same year."

Komali nodded and looked into the blonde's eyes. "Please, Link," He began, "Let us start over. I know you have hard feelings about Aryll dying of a Rito-born disease, but we couldn't have known. I sent so many troops out to find a cure that men ended up _dying_. I just feel so wrong. I had no _idea_ you had a daughter, and how would I have ever guessed that if you won't speak to me. Don't you think she would have wanted us to be a family?"

Link looked away and felt the burning eyes of his wife on his back. He heaved a gigantic, weight lifting sigh and agreed. "You're right. I've been upset because I wanted to blame you for her death, but I just don't know anymore." He looked at his old friend and smiled. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

"I know you loved her, Komali, that's why I didn't stop you from dating her when we were young. You just took her away so young, and Rayne was born when she was still 18. It all happened so fast."

"Please," Komali smiled, "Come to see him. He would be so pleased to show off his wings to his uncle Link. He only has heard the stories that Aryll told him about your bravery. I have never spoken ill of you in front of him."

Link looked back at his wife. She nodded. Link looked at Komali. This was going to be a brand new beginning.

**LINK AND DARK:**

Six months later Link leaned against Dark's back in the field in front of their home. Dark was holding Artemis up in the air, staring into her pale blue eyes, and cooing at her softly. Link was resting his hands on his flat stomach when he tilted his head back to look at the back of Dark's hair.

Since he had been stripped of every ounce of magic he had, and granted his freedom, Dark chose to wear whatever he liked. On that day he was wearing a red tunic-top with black jeans, and no shoes, since they were just in their yard.

"Dark, are you okay?" Link asked, knowing how weak the demon was now.

He lowered the baby down into his lap and turned around to face Link. Artemis, or Missy, as they were calling her, was seven months old now, and both Link and Dark had gotten the hang of the whole parenting thing. She was wearing a fluffy blue dress and had her short black hair pulled into two gravity-defying pigtails. The hero held out his finger for his baby girl to grab, and awaited the answer.

Before Dark could say anything, Artemis pointed at him and giggled. "Yucky!" She shouted. Link shook his head.

"No, Artemis, we don't call Daddy yucky." He knew it was a lost cause though, because the only word she knew how to say right then was yucky, and so _everyone_ was yucky.

Dark had lost all of his magic when he renounced Gannondorf, and while he was still physically strong there was a deep loss of strength inside him. Dark was a _magic_ being, and when he lost that magic he had rely on the human emotions to keep him alive. Now he was just an average hylian, like Link. Link however, had much more strength than Dark now.

"I'm scared, to be honest." Dark replied softly. "Because I know Artemis is a demon too."

Link smiled down at their daughter.

"What if when she gets her powers, she can't control them? I won't have any power to stop her from hurting herself, or even others. I don't know when they'll come back."

Link leaned forward to plant a kiss on his cheek. "We'll face it together, Dark."

"What if he comes back again?" Dark half-whispered. "What if he comes back for her?"

Link looked down at the gurgling baby and smiled at her. "I already told him I would fight for her forever." He looked back to Dark and asked, "Is there anything else you miss about your powers, besides just being worried for Missy?"

He shrugged. "I'm a little disappointed that I can't share a mind link with you anymore. But I think the saddest thing is that… Well…"

"Well what?"

"Now Missy will be an only child."

Link raised an eyebrow and blushed three shades of pink. "Are you implying you had the idea to do that to me again?"

Dark smirked. "Would you have done it?"

"In a heartbeat. You know… I love you Dark, and I love Artemis, and what we have and…" He trailed off. "Hey Dark, what would you say is an example of a perfect family?"

Dark raised an eyebrow. "Uh," he blinked. "Why?"

Link blushed again and smiled. "I just want to know. It's important to me."

"I don't know… us?" He asked, hoping his answer would do.

Link smiled. "I always thought that it would be two parents and two kids. You know, with a little dog and a big house on a hill? Maybe a boy and a girl, maybe two of a kind. The people that have that are really living the good life, you know?"

Dark shrugged. "Well, I'm not magical anymore, so if you want another baby you'll have to go elsewhere. That's funny you asked though. I used to daydream about what it would be like to have another baby all the time."

Link hid a sly grin and was about to say something when he felt the baby being shoved into his own lap and saw Dark searching frantically around the grass.

"What are you doing?" He asked, seeing a look of fear in Dark's eyes.

Getting no answer he looked down to Artemis, who was sucking on a little box with a bow on it. "Whatcha got there, Missy?" He asked, but Dark snatched it from the baby's mouth before Link could. She began to cry very quickly and Link glared at Dark a little.

He held Artemis up against his shoulder and bounced her a little bit, and Dark grinned sheepishly. "What is that?" Link asked.

"It's mine. Well, no, yours. I um…" He pulled off the slobbery ribbon and opened to box, revealing both a yellow gold band and a white gold band.

Seeing that Link wasn't following this, he carefully set it down and picked up the white gold band and slid it onto his own finger. It took him a second to let Link shift the baby into one arm, but finally Dark was holding the hero's left hand.

"I know we can't really get married, because of who we are," Dark muttered, admittedly a little irritated, "But I just wanted you to know that I'm going to spend my forever with you, Link."

Link felt his heart beating faster than ever before, and he listened to Dark.

"So, please, Link," Dark finished, "when I wear this ring I'm telling you, Missy, and the whole world that I'll stand beside you until the day I die." He reached down to pick up the yellow gold ring and Link felt a layer of pink coming across his cheeks. "Link… Will you wear this ring, to show the whole world that you love me too?"

Link almost thought he was going to drop the baby while Dark slid the ring on his finger. Then he felt dizzy. It only took a second to realize the dizziness wasn't going away, and he gasped and shoved Artemis into Dark's arms before standing up and dashing a few feet away to vomit.

Dark paled. "_That_ was yucky." Artemis cheered up greatly hearing her favorite word, and Dark stood up and carefully started towards Link, who very quickly backed away. Dark stopped. Link stopped. "Are you going to avoid me now?"

Link was flushed and had small tears in the corners of his eyes. He put his hand over his stomach, holding it gently, something he hadn't missed, and shook his head. "N-No, Dark…" He tried to laugh, but he thought he was going to be sick again if he spoke too much, and looked down at the gleaming yellow ring on his finger.

Dark stared at him, bouncing the baby on his shoulder, and waited for the Hero to speak. Finally Link felt like he could open his mouth without losing the contents of his stomach, and he started to speak. Dark took another step towards him. He took another step back.

"No!" He shouted, staring at Dark, who looked hurt. Link realized what he was saying. "No, not that. I love you Dark, I do want to be with you for…forever." He put his hand on his head, to feel his temperature. He didn't seem warm, but who was he to judge himself? He put up his hands. "I will wear the ring, goddess, this means so much to me." He looked at the sleeping baby. "But you don't bring her one step closer to me. I just _threw up_ Dark. I could be sick, and I don't want her to get it. And stay away from that tree I just puked under. In fact, take her inside, put her in the crib, and move it to your side of the bed."

Dark smiled. Link blushed. "It's easy to see who the mother is." Dark snickered. Link rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Call me girly again. I dare you." He watched Dark snicker once more and walk into the house. Then he leaned against the fence outside the house. "…And when you most certainly do… I'll tell you what Zelda told me yesterday."

The blonde rubbed his stomach gently and looked over the field. He had gone to see the Princess on a whim, while Dark was purchasing some groceries from the market. He hadn't felt good, and had a suspiciously familiar feeling, so he went just in case.

He wasn't too surprised by what she said, however, she was. Both of them had thought that when he became a human, all the magic he had ever done would disappear.

They were wrong.

Dark came back outside once he had put Missy in her crib to sleep and gave the Hero a loose hug. "Are you feeling okay?"

Link nodded. He was totally fine now. In fact, he felt better than he did before. He looked down at the bottle in Dark's hand. "What's that?"

"For you to rinse your mouth with." Dark answered, holding out the bottle.

Link raised an eyebrow. "This is whiskey."

"Make sure you swallow it."

Link laughed, but didn't open the bottle. He held it close and thought about Zelda, telling him that he should be super careful this time since he was so reckless with Artemis. No physical activity, no lifting, no drinking, no standing for long periods, no scaling walls, and no evil king fighting. Well, using it to rinse out his mouth couldn't hurt, if he spat it out, right?

Dark watched and snickered when Link spat it off to the side. "Too strong for you, Mrs. Hero?"

Link smiled. "No, just too strong for the baby."

Dark blinked. "What?"

Link beamed. "What can I say? I'm cursed." He laughed and strolled into the little house.

"What?" Dark just stared after him, looking at the house. "Link?" He saw man start up the stairs through the window. "Link!" He ran into the house and Link stopped halfway up the stairs with a bottle of water for himself to drink.

"What, Dark?"

"We…" The forgiven demon smiled the biggest smile he had ever smiled in his life and finished. "We need to get a dog."

Link just laughed.

…

_That's it! The end! I bet you were expecting something else, right? XD_

_I'm sorry for the lack of story behind Astrid and Aveil's return, but since they were in the group the least amount of time, it was hard for me to give them much. And in the game, Astrid lives all alone on and island. XD Not much to come home to._

_Most people guessed the relationship between Aryll and Komali, but if not… surprise!_

_Oh, and as for this new baby? Well… You should just check back in the sequel. It's called Shadow Girl, and I'm going to start it sometime in the next week or so. I'm just trying to decide between starting that or redoing another story of mine. :D_

_Who wants the sequel?_

_R&R_

_-Forever Kissing_


	12. On Seagull Wings Preview

"...It was rough, at first. My father didn't approve, her family was confused. But I didn't care. It was like a dramatic play of old times, we were star crossed. She was only eighteen, and I was twenty, and she became my princess."

This is a sequel to shadow child, about the romance between Aryll and Komali. All of you who enjoyed shadow child, hopefully will enjoy this as well!

Check out my stories to find "On Seagull Wings"! Chapter one is up today!


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